On Mon, 27 Dec 2004 19:22:51 +0100, Gerard Meijssen
<gerardm(a)myrealbox.com> wrote:
For the nl:wiktionary we have over 300 sound files
with pronunciations
of words in the Dutch language alone. They are much easier to use than
phonetic notations. As such it would be cool to have the standard
pronunciations recorded and available from Commons for all wiktionary words.
I agree, the only phonetic notation I understand is Spanish.
As to the project. There are many more projects in
wiktionary that are
more important than also having wishes for ramadan, chanukka just to
satisfy this false sense of "equality" of some. When someone starts to
record these wishes in wiktionary, I will be happy to lend a hand.
On the English wiktionary there is a project to have the 1000 "most
important" words defined and translated to many languages. There are
people experimenting with bots that may automagically copy content from
one wiktionary to another. There are the many thousands of words that we
would like to add to the wikitonaries and have in files on our local
harddisks. There are the phrases that people may want to know when they
go abroud. There are the ideas about a next generation wiktionary. There
is the GEMET data that we really want to include in the wiktionaries.
There is so much more going on than just this project that was intended
as a fun thing to do.
The "Buon Natale" project was a small fun project with an intentional
small scope. We love it. It was and is fun. But it is what we made it
and not what someone else wants it to be. I am not aware of people
sending cards at chanukka or ramadan. I also do not know if and how you
say "Happy Ramandan". We have written several times during the last
month or so about our project and everytime we asked people to
contribute and expand the project by writing about the traditions that
they know. Not only but also about their christmas.
Ramadan is one of those meaningful holidays, not the happy kind (like
TV news anchors won't tell people to have a Happy Yon Kippur). There's
probably some Arabic greeting used throughout much of the Islamic
world, so its probably not as interesting of a project.
So again, do write about channuka and ramandan in
wikipedia and do add
relevant phrases and words in wiktionary. Inform us about the difference
times of the start of ramadan. About the three days of the birth of
Jezus. About the differences in the way a christmastree is decorated in
Italy compared to Germany. About the carp as a traditional dish at
easter in Poland. But other people do have different sensibilities and
do not make what you believe override everything and everyone else
believes and values. To me the censorship of the "Bon Natale" project
was a nasty surprise, to me it shows an intolerance that I had not
expected from the wikipedia crowd.
There will be other projects and other moments, that will be mo
Thanks,
GerardM
People are overly sensitive on the subject. You stumbled into a
dispute which has already occurred regarding whether to turn the
Wikipedia ball into a Christmas ornament (as the Italian Wikipedia did
this year). I did think it was kind of odd that my boss wished us all
a Merry Christmas even though about a 1/4 of my co-workers are Muslim.
But, at the same time, who cares, I'm sure they didn't.
Ian