[Foundation-l] Supporting languages is supporting people

[Mark Williamson]

I imagine it would be easier if those people would be allowed to get
Wikipedias instead of having to wait for years.

On 25/10/2007, GerardM <gerard.meijssen at gmail.com> wrote:
> Hoi,
> As long as people communicate in a language it is a living language. When
> people stop using a language, it dies. This has little to do with the number
> of people involved; a language spoken by 7000 people in Papua New Guinea may
> be as vibrant as ever when there is little communication with an outside
> world. What makes a dying language is something you only realise when you
> compare census figures. When a language that is not doing well, when it
> finds new champions, the language may undergo a revival. To me this is
> completely legitimate as it proves that the language is not dead; there are
> people that care to communicate in their language.
>
> In the Wikimedia Foundation we are careful when introducing new languages.
> There are good reasons for it. We want a project to be a success and we
> insist on a good user experience so a localised user interface is a must. We
> attempt to check if the language is indeed the language that is advertised.
> We are looking for a small group of people that is big enough to make it
> likely that we will have a community. There are several hoops to jump
> through before a new language gets its own project.
>
> What is problematic is when people look at these "other" languages and imply
> that having these other languages as well is ok as long as they do not
> interfere with what they consider "primary" languages. This means that these
> languages should politely stay in the background and not need investments
> because they prevent what is considered "primary". The problem is very much
> in how this attitude is perceived. It may be that good faith should be
> assumed, but given how barbed the exchanges can be and given how much the
> perspectives differ it is hard if not impossible to reconcile differences
> with those that are of the opinion that we should ensure that we provide the
> infrastructure for all languagea that can qualify as a WMF language.
>
> It is said that we are not in the business of supporting languages. The fact
> of the matter is that we support every language that qualifies for a
> Wikipedia. Effectively we support the languages the most that are read the
> most. So we do a sublime job on our biggest projects. It is assumed that the
> smaller projects should develop like the big projects did. The situation is
> often not comparable. It is assumed that all languages are equal and are
> able to make use of our MediaWiki software. Sadly this is not the case.
> Sadly it takes effort and investments to get necessary glyphs in Unicode.
> Sadly it means that assumptions about languages, true for the "primary"
> languages, are not true for all languages. Sadly it means that business is
> not as usual and as this upsets the status quo people get upset.
>
> The Wikimedia Foundation aims to provide information to all people. The last
> two years at Wikimania we have been told that we are really going to make an
> effort in Africa. We have been told that our organisation is getting
> organised and is at the threshold where we can request for the funding of
> projects and manage these projects as well. With this promise to support
> these other people and their other languages with the promise that we will
> be able to work on projects and aim for some longer term goals we can reach
> out to these other people and give them the opportunity and the channel to
> share their knowledge with us. In this way they may become one with us.
>
> We have to adapt and allow for change. We have to adapt and change what
> prevents others to share their knowledge with us. We cannot change
> everything but there is so much that we can do. Within the Wikimedia
> Foundation we are a multitude. We do not all share the same ideals. That is
> fine. What I ask for is that those that care for the less resourced
> languages are "allowed" to actively do what is needed to support more people
> to share their knowledge by enabling them to be heard, to be read.
>
> Thank you,
>   GerardM
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