On Fri, 04 Feb 2005 01:41:43 +0800, Alex Kwan litalex@slashyalex.com wrote:
And even going from your perspective, waving around the figure of 1 billion+ people in China doesn't work that well. How many of those 1 billion+ people have frequent access to a computer, to the net? And can find their way to the wikipedias?
One of Wikipedia's goals is to provide the source for CD, DVD and print editions, so that it's not just people who have computer and net access.
(From Guardian UK, October 26, 2004, http://tinyurl.com/5z937): 'However, Wales and his community of volunteers are not resting on their laurels. He is in negotiations to print part of the content, and distribute it in Africa as part of their ambition to "put a free encyclopedia in the hands of every person on the planet".'
Also, see: [[en:Wikipedia:Version_1.0_Editorial_Team]]
I don't know how to find out, but there is a possibility that the percentage of Cantonese/Yue and Wu speakers who have frequent access to the net is higher than the purely Mandarin speakers... Because some of the fastest growing/most developed regions are Guangdong and Jiangsu province. And Jiangsu is specialising in computer chips, etc.
Interesting point, though in the PRC, not sure what "purely Mandarin speakers" refers to. For most PRC folks, there is the local dialect for the household and community, and putonghua for schooling and formal business. I gave a talk to Jiangsu Media Group last year (part of it about Wikipedia) and the majority of regional radio and television content is not in the local dialect, but in putonghua. For Guangdong's local media, it's largely the same case.
-Andrew (User:Fuzheado)