[Foundation-l] RfC: Mission & Vision Statements of the Wikimedia Foundation

[Ray Saintonge]

Gerard Meijssen wrote:

>Brianna Laugher wrote:
>  
>
>>The suggestion that teaching everyone English and offering them
>>English works is equivalent to offering them works in their own
>>language is... really appalling. We may as well shut down all the
>>other languages and just offer Wikibooks "learn English" in x trillion
>>languages, right? I don't think so...
>>    
>>
>I am really glad that you picked up on this. This is very much 
>imperialistic thinking; to the winner all the spoils. If you want to 
>understand what the relevance is of native languages, you may want to 
>read what the UN has to say about this.
>
>http://webworld.unesco.org/imld/res_en.html
>
The ideas there are very interesting once you strip away the diplomatic 
verbiage.  In particular the following:

>    5. Also invites the Director-General to undertake the following
>       concrete actions to promote multilingualism and cultural
>       diversity on global information networks:
>
> (a) to strengthen activities to make cultural heritage in the public 
> domain which is preserved in museums, libraries and archives freely 
> accessible on the global information networks;
>
> (b) to support the formulation of national and international policies 
> and principles encouraging all Member States to promote the 
> development and use of translation tools and terminology for better 
> interoperability;
>
> (c) to encourage the provision of resources for linguistic pluralism 
> through global networks, in particular by reinforcing the UNESCO 
> international observatory on the information society;
>
> (d) to pursue further consultations with Member States and competent 
> international governmental and non-governmental organizations for 
> closer cooperation on language rights, respect for linguistic 
> diversity and the expansion of multilingual electronic resources on 
> the global information networks;
>
I would suspect that we are already among the most engaged of the NGOs 
referred to in (d).

>The notion that by providing information in English we provide 
>sufficient information is fundamentally wrong. The English Wikipedia 
>does not provide sufficient information for people to understand their 
>culture. When it does provide information in the first place, it brings 
>it into a context that is decidedly outside of the culture of these 
>people. When you have read and listened to people explaining what 
>knowledge is lost with the demise of minority languages, you would 
>understand that the tapestry of human knowledge is become threat bare as 
>a consequence. Then again, when you do not know what you lost you did 
>not lose it right ? Wikipedia may become a collection of much of the 
>information that exists, when it does it may help us appreciate the loss 
>that is happening to us all and to our detriment.
>
Absolutely!  The most important task for minority languages lies in 
relating to their own cultures.  It may be interesting to translate into 
a minority language information about the latest discoveries in nuclear 
physics, or the politics of nations on the other side of the globe, but 
that has nothing to do with the soul of that language.
    :-) Although in most cases I prefer not to comment on erroneous 
idioms, I would like to point out that "threat bare" should normally be 
threadbare" indicating that the fabric is deteriorating to the point 
where one can almost see through it.  It is nearly at the point where 
darning may no longer an effective way of bringing it back to life.  To 
be sure, that which has become so impoverished is also barren of 
threats, but that is another story. :-)

>It has often been pointed out that the disconnect from the cultural 
>values leads to a loss of cohesion and conflict. History also learned 
>that the "upper classes" adopted the language of the cultural oppressor 
>leading to eventual revolt. The sad thing is that much of the cultural 
>values are lost in the process and one of the slogans for such a 
>revolution is the promise for a cultural resurgence. A resurgence that 
>seems to be always bleak compared to what is considered the "golden age" 
>even if it was objectively not that great for the majority of the populace.
>
None have been so effective at sharpening the oppresor's language into a 
weapon as the Irish, but they had already resisted Charlamagne's effort 
to impose a common European script. 

Ec