[Foundation-l] Fwd: Pt-Portuguese Wikipedia

[Virgilio A. P. Machado]

It is gratifying to know that someone is so sure that different 
dialects of Portuguese are mutually intelligible. I speak more than 
one language and have never able to understand all native speakers of 
any language both in speech and writing. How dumb of me.

Blind non-interventionist policies have spelled disaster for 
countless minorities, but some people will get a better feeling for 
it when Spanish becomes the language of the majority of US citizens, 
as they already are when that is happening in their town, county or state.

I understand that the topic started with a suggestion to create "a 
new version of Wikipedia in Portuguese from Portugal", but I can't 
fail to notice that, for the wider Wikimedia community, avoiding to 
address any of problems of the Portuguese Wikipedia, might be very 
convenient to keep it where it is, mired in problems. We all have 
problems of our own, right? Why bother?

Sincerely,

Virgilio A. P. Machado

At 20:49 22-03-2010, you wrote:
>On 22 March 2010 20:24, Marcus Buck <me at marcusbuck.org> wrote:
> > I hope you speak Portuguese. Cause decisions like this should be made by
> > people who know the language variants and their differences and not by
> > outsiders. Leave the decision to the speakers of Portuguese. Anyway it
> > seems that the majority of speakers does not want to split. Outsiders
> > can assist by giving advice. E.g. how to minimize the problems that
> > arise from the differences. But outsiders shouldn't impose decisions on
> > the community.
>
>I don't speak Portuguese, but that doesn't stop me knowing that
>different dialects of it are mutually intelligible. What happens with
>the existing project is a matter for that project's community, but the
>creation of a new project is a matter for the wider Wikimedia
>community.
>
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Prof. Virgilio A. P. Machado            vam at fct.unl.pt
Engenharia 
Industrial 
http://web.archive.org/web/20070824105539/www.ipei.pt/GDEI/
DEMI/FCT/UNL                    Fax:   351-21-294-8546 or 21-294-8531
Universidade de Portugal                or 351-21-295-4461
2829-516 Caparica                       Tel.:  351-21-294-8542 or 21-294-8567
PORTUGAL                                or 351-21-294-8300 or 21 294-8500
                                         Ext.112-32
96-577-3726
Faculdade de Ciencias e Tecnologia/UNL (FCT/UNL)

(Dr. Machado is Associate Professor of Industrial Engineering at the
School of Sciences and Engineering/UNL of the University of Portugal)