[Foundation-l] Transparency

[Ray Saintonge]

Yaroslav M. Blanter wrote:
> Actually, we must also realize that many (if not the majority) of the
> editors of even big wp projects like French, Japanese, or Russian, do not
> speak English or do not feel themselves confident enough in English. This
> means that they get all the messages about WMF through their own wp
> project (through the people who speak both languages, are involved somehow
> on a broader scope, and just select the material to be translated). For
> instance, there is no chance they can read this list, possibly they would
> even never know  that the (open) list exists. I just do not see how the
> volunteer coordinator idea would work for these people. Unless, of course,
> we find the translators - but then, again, this is not the only point
> where translators are needed, and I just do not see how this could be
> done. In the end of the day, participants of even bigger projects feel
> disconnected from all decisions done at the WMF level, and do not feel
> like they influenced these decisions at all.
Very much so.  The United Nations has from the beginning limited its 
list of official languages.  Is the EU any better off if it translates 
long reports on narrowly focused topics from one obscure language into 
another?  It may not be politically appealing for a Chechen to 
communicate in Russian, or for a Quechua to communicate in Spanish, but 
unless the speakers of those languages are able to provide translator 
services will remain limited.  The most we can hope for is service in a 
limited number of widely used languages, or languages with a high 
on-line population like Japanese.  Maltese may be official in the EU but 
we can't realistically do anything about that.

Ec