[Foundation-l] Language Prevention Committee created

[Brianna Laugher]

On 27/03/07, Andre Engels <andreengels at gmail.com> wrote:
> 2007/3/27, Erik Moeller <erik at wikimedia.org>:
>
> > As far as Gerard and I have talked about this issue and I understand
> > it, it seems like a sensible policy to me. If you want a new language,
> > it should not be that difficult to at least prepare the groundwork for
> > MediaWiki localization before you start. If you cannot even get that
> > organized, how are you ever going to write a useful encyclopedia?
> >
>
> What if your interest is in writing an encyclopedia, and not in translating
> software? If you have 10 people happily writing articles, but none of them
> having interest in going through all 200+ MediaWiki-pages, does that mean
> that it can never be an encyclopedia?

Exactly. There is a lot of crud in the MediaWiki messages. Even when
you start a new wiki in English, how many people go through the
messages to localise them and create all the referenced pages such as
Project:About? (I sure don't.) As opposed to, how many dive into the
exciting project of content creation?

Why is localisation so important? The messages will be translated as
the wiki progresses. I am not convinced that localisation before
launch is more likely to ensure a successful project. Is there some
research or some cases that show this?

regards,
Brianna
user:pfctdayelise