[Foundation-l] "Chinese Wikimania 2006 to be held in Hong Kong"

[Jakob Voss]

R.O.C wrote:

> 6.3) i hope that the community can help choosing an english translation for
> the chinese name of conference, in accordance with foundation policies. the
> chinese community/conference would like to seek the authorization for using
> names/trademarks of the foundation, if needed. the name of the chinese
> conference is "中文年維基會" (literally, "chinese language wikipedia/wikimedia
> annual conference").

Is it

    chinese language wikipedia annual conference
or chinese language wikimedia annual conference
or chinese language wiki annual conference ?

I don't know any Chinese but reading the interwikilinks there is:

Wiki: 維基
Wikipedia: 维基百科
Wikimedia: 維基媒體
Wikimania: 維基媒體國際大會

IMHO you can create any names you want in Chinese - there is only a 
problem with the English translation:

維基年會 is not "Wikimania" but just call it

"Chinese Wikipedia Conference" or "Chinese Wikimedia Conference".

> 6.3.1) i personally prefer the name "chinese wikimedia conference" and would
> like to know the procedures for seeking permissions from the foundation
> regarding the use of "wikimedia". there is no local chapters serving chinese
> projects at the moment (may not be any time soon either).

Since there is no local Wikimedia chapter you better call it "Chinese 
Wikipedia Conference" because it's probably mostly about Wikipedia and 
you will have less problems with the name. "Wikimedia" sounds too 
official and will keep this discussion going on.

> 6.4) as explained earlier, the english (or western) word of "wikimania" had
> been interpreted and understood in chinese differently as it is supposed to
> be. the organizers and chinese users have been informed at zh.wikipedia that
> wikimania does not mean "wikimedia conference", but "international wikimedia
> conference" (sponsored by wikimedia foundation); it is also a trading name
> of wikimedia foundation instead of a generic term.

Wikimania is a special conference organised by the Wikimedia Foundation. 
維基年會 is not organised by the Wikimedia Foundation. So 維基年會 is 
not Wikimania.

Proof (Reductio ad absurdum / 反證法)

1. Assume 維基年會 is Wikimania
2. Then 維基年會 is organised by the Wikimedia Foundation
3. But 維基年會 is not organised by the Wikimedia Foundation

I must admit that maybe this logic argument only works in western 
philosophy ;-)

> hope that this is helpful.

Thanks a lot! Your language and thinking is very intersting but not easy 
to understand from the european point of view :-)

Greetings,
Jakob

P.S: Wikipedia is so great! You can write mails with Chinese just using 
interwiki links :-)