[WikiEN-l] Foreign language WP as a source

[Steve Bennett]

On 4/16/07, Marc Riddell <michaeldavid86 at comcast.net> wrote:
> Folks,
>
> Real quick question: Is there any problem with using a foreign language WP
> Article as a source in the English language one? In this case it's birth &
> death dates.

If the German Wikipedia article *is* the source, it should be *cited*
as the source. That's fundamental. In fact, we even have templates for
this ("This information came from the ... Wikipedia on ... day"), but
I don't know the name of them off the top of my head.

In general, translating articles from other Wikipedias is a good idea.
It's much faster than researching the article from scratch, and helps
to synchronise the different projects, and may even help in reducing
systematic bias (depending on which way the translation is going).

Steve