Jiaqing Bao wrote:
I believe there has to be some principles in minor
language
Wikipedias. Setting up an encyclopedia is not just about self
expression, it has to serve public good. Moreover, proposals and
actual performances have to stand some very basic prima facie scrutiny.
If a language has 1000 speakers. Only 100 can read (most of them use
another mainstream language). And only 10 of them can write (the
writing system could be difficult, e.g. Egyptian hieroglyph). And only
5 of them sre active contributors. The five of them would become the
de facto knowledge controllers.
In that case having a wikipedia in that living language becomes more
important. Egyptian relates to a dead language which is probably not in
trouble. The writing systems are not an issue. Many of these languages
were pre-literate, and the writing that they adopted was based on that
of a more dominant language, or was imposed on them by visiting priests
and anthropologists.
If each user of that language uses a mainstream
language Wikipedia, it
will be good. However, to those who consult that minor Wikipedia, he
or she could be mislead by inaccurate information (e.g. bias, mistake,
outdated materials ...). Because that minor Wikipedia is written most
by a handful of people (possibly friends of similar backgrounds), it
becomes much more unlikely that a mistake could be corrected.
An isolated language like Kutenai with only 222 speakers world-wide
would likely benefit from having a Wikipedia. We need to avoid the urge
to become cultural imperialists.
Even if that user knows there's a mistake, he or
she may not be able
to correct it. Many minor languages users are not fluent speakers.
Some may not know how to type that particular script.
And the limited active contributors also may have a very restricted
knowledge base. The five of them may not know much about astronomy for
example. They may translate. They could make mistakes. They could also
selectively translate less important parts of an article because they
may not know much about the mathematics, physics, chemistry, history
... about that subject. Unless they can ask others to join, their
works may not be trusted.
Minor language Wikipedias should not feel the need to do everything.
Developing articles that are of cultural importance to the speakers
would be the most important task. An important part of First Nations'
claims to aboriginal rights have been based on the unwritten record of
their history that has been passed on by word of mouth.
In case the user knows how to double check, it may not
be a problem.
However, if a user still has to consult a mainstream language source,
it makes that minor Wikipedia less relevant. And if the user cannot
read another language and failed to find another minor language
source, the bug-ridden Wikipedia could do more harm than good. An
encyclopedia has to serve a public good to justify its existence.
Verification is much less important in cases where cultural preservation
is at issue. There will be inaccurate information provided, but it is
up to the members of that culture to p[olice themselves.
It is a bad idea to setup encyclopedias in so many
languages. I don't
mind if anyone wants to start a Wiki in Pig Latin or Nadsat. You can
easily auto translate English into these two artificial languages. But
for many minor languages, it may be not feasible. The few articles
could be untrustworthy. Wikipedia is not a language conservation
project. The reason why people trust English Wikipedia is because of
the number of contributors and fact checkers. We don't want this site
to become the largest source of rumor.
I'm not familiar with Nadsat, but I would oppose a Pig Latin Wiki.
Artificial or constructed languages are a different issue than minor
languages.
Besides the number of active regular contributors,
they may need
sources of reference materials and public domain sources. In English,
you have the 1911 Encyclopedia Britannica, Project Gutenberg, CIA Fact
Book and many other online materials. It is easy to build many pages
without much efforts and mistakes in most major languages. They have
so many printed reference materials. To many minor languages, they
have very few books other than a language textbook, the Bible or an
out-of-print dictionary. It is really not a very good idea that they
start an encyclopedia project at this moment.
Quite the contrary. These scanty resouces need to be treasured and
preserved. I am a non-believer but I think that the Bible translators
did a tremendous service for many of these languages, even if it was for
the wrong reasons.
All that being said, a wiki in any of these minor languages still needs
someone who understands the language to start it, manage it and do the
work.
Ec