lcrocker@nupedia.com wrote:
I do, however, like the idea of representing languages with images of famous contributors in that language; this could be used in lots of places writing about Wikipedia. I'd suggest Shakespeare, Hugo, Cervantes as the obvious English/French/Spanish ones. I don't know who would be appropriate for the others.
I don't like even this idea. My reason is that I wouldn't know what Hugo and Cervantes looked like if they were in my bathtub. It's hard to know what image could universally represent various languages, and this is especially true for "smaller" languages.
True, but you'd know your own, and I'm only suggesting that these be used as "decorative" illustrations rather than flags to /accompany/ plain text, not replace it. And of course you're right that many would be very unobvious.
lcrocker@nupedia.com wrote:
lcrocker@nupedia.com wrote:
I do, however, like the idea of representing languages with images of famous contributors in that language; this could be used in lots of places writing about Wikipedia. I'd suggest Shakespeare, Hugo, Cervantes as the obvious English/French/Spanish ones. I don't know who would be appropriate for the others.
I don't like even this idea. My reason is that I wouldn't know what Hugo and Cervantes looked like if they were in my bathtub. It's hard to know what image could universally represent various languages, and this is especially true for "smaller" languages.
True, but you'd know your own, and I'm only suggesting that these be used as "decorative" illustrations rather than flags to /accompany/ plain text, not replace it. And of course you're right that many would be very unobvious.
Why would we recognise the images even for our 'own' language? While I certainly know who these people were, I wouldn't know their pictures from a bar of soap! I think using 'talking heads' is a VERY bad idea...
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