Message: 9
Date: Wed, 27 Aug 2003 12:36:26 -0700
From: Ray Saintonge <saintonge(a)telus.net>
Subject: Re: [Wikipedia-l] Re: Languages
To: wikipedia-l(a)Wikipedia.org
Message-ID: <3F4D083A.4050302(a)telus.net>
Content-Type: text/plain; charset=UTF-8; format=flowed
In Canada a genocidal policy that forced more than a
generation of first
nations children into residential schools where they
were forbidden to use their own language has put many
of these languages in desparate
situations. There may not be a critical mass of
population for keeping some of these languages and
cultures alive. We can provide space for a
Kootenayan language Wikipedia, but what good is that
if there is no-one around with the ability to write
in >that language? The
elders may be
the only ones with a functional knowlege of the
language, but these elders are no different from the
elders of other societies who are
overwhelmed by anything having to do with computers.
Every little bit can help perhaps. What else would you
suggest we can do ?
We did the same with our languages, breton, basque,
corse... The french unity is not so much relying on
political unity, than cultural, linguistic and
religious (less and less now of course, but the
principles running the society are christian based
even if we are a laic state). To achieve that unity,
in the past time, kids also were hit at school if they
talk their "home-language" (patois).
There are now a wikipedia is occitan and one in
breton.
PS: the English for "decennie" is
"decade"
<font size=-2>Merci</font>
The
Encyclopedia is not translated and will not be
translated in other languages. Each language is free
'''in''' its own creativity. Articles from one
language can
>influence another language. But they are not copies.
I changed "of" to "in" in your
comment, Anthere.
"Of" >would suggest
that a language is somehow liberated from its own
creativity.
:-((((
Your message contains a very important subtlety. If
I >could translate
this text into Cree the result would not be in Cree;
it would be in
English with Cree words. There exists a pervasively
naïve and
simplistic view about translations that it is just a
matter of changing
words that have a one to one correspondence. Some
topics, notably
technical ones, can survive that transition very
well, >but topics that
are closely linked to culture fare rather badly.
So true.
Some topics, I cannot even translate from english to
french because I do not know the french words for
these.
By the Ec... the definition for "sect" seems to be
notably different from our "secte".
Someone changed the international link and now our
"secte" is linked with your "cult".
What do you think ?
Translations are important, and words leading to
others as well.
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