on 8/26/03 10:11 PM, Merritt L. Perkins at mlperkins3@juno.com wrote:
What languages? All languages! Do you mean that you want to include Encyclopedia articles on all languages.
I'm sure Jimbo means what he says, but yes, Wikimedia aspires to a version in any language anyone wants to work on.
There are so many obscure
languages that you cannot expect to include them all.
It is possible that no one will ever come forward to work on encyclopedias in some languages. I would expect some relatively rarely used languages to be used though, perhaps for cultural reasons, for example it is easy to imagine a gaelic wikipedia or a Cherokee Wikipedia
What languages should the Encyclopedia be translated into?
We don't actually do that although folks who work on a wikipedia in any language could translate articles if they wish.
I think that
you should choose languages that would have many readers. High German, French and Spanish for example.
We have a Wikipedia in low German already, The Netherlands one.
There is a difference between this French
spoken in France and in Canada, in the Spanish spoken in Spain and in Mexico.
It is likely that French speaking Wikipedians will choose to have one French Wikipedia, but the possibiltiy arises for a second French Wikipedia, perhaps a Cajun one? Or simple French?
There are special characters used to write the languages.
Yes but there almost any imaginable language in included in the unicode system.
Basque, Maori, and Manx would have few readers.
Good examples of Wikipedias which might happen when those folks discover Wikipedia in any numbers, The Basques are rather nationalistic, Maori presumably have both specialized interests and a desire to preserve their language, Manxmen and Manxwomen might take an interest in resurrecting the language.
The language should be
easily written from a computer keyboard. This would exclude Arabic and Chinese. There must be some way to write them but I dont know how. It may require a special keyboard and software.
It does require software but that is easily available. The Apple system X has it, for example. I have seen pictures of special ideograph keyboards but I don't think they are in general use.
The head of the modern language department of a large German university may be fluent in several languages and able to teach about subjects from the Kavala to Xenophons Anabasis. He may have served in the Army and be familiar with Army terminology and idioms, but not familiar with submarines, ships, or airplanes.
While it is fun to learn about and write articles on subjects one is unfamiliar with, it is not expected of anyone.
The translator should be a native speaker thoroughly familiar with the subject of the article and may choose to write his own article instead of translating the existing article.
Yes, although one may write in a language one is only learning (sure to lead to lots of extra learning) or about a subject one wishes to learn more about or is just curious about (also likely to lead to some extra learning).
I find no objection to including articles written or translated into Icelandic, Hungarian, or any other language even though there would be few readers. Readers need to know where to find them
That's white of you. Links to the Wikipedias in other languages are on the main page of Wikipedia.
Merritt L. Perkins
Fred