[Foundation-l] EFE: Indigenous languages entering Wikipedia

[Mateus Nobre]

Wikimedia Brasil also have a project of indigenous language, the nheengatu project.

http://br.wikimedia.org/wiki/Nheengattu

_____________________
MateusNobre
MetalBrasil on Wikimedia projects
(+55) 85 88393509
              30440865


> Date: Sat, 18 Feb 2012 18:50:20 -0300
> From: osmar at wikimediachile.cl
> To: foundation-l at lists.wikimedia.org
> Subject: [Foundation-l] EFE: Indigenous languages entering Wikipedia
> 
> Hi everyone!
> 
> Yesterday, news agency EFE published a note about the work done mainly by
> Wikimedia Argentina about the development of projects in Native American
> languages like aymara, guarani and mapudungun. The news have been replied
> in the largest newspapers and websites of Latin America and Spain.
> 
> The work to develop Wikimedia projects in Native American languages have
> been taken as a priority for the chapters members of Iberocoop (Wikimedia
> Argentina, Chile, Mexico and Venezuela) and we expect this year 2012 to
> work in the development of those communities of users and editors. But we
> expect also the support of the Language Committee and the Wikimedia
> Foundation for this work.
> 
> http://www.que.es/201202171651-lenguas-indigenas-abren-paso-wikipedia-efe.html
> 
> Here is a fast translation to English of the article (sorry for my English
> btw):
> 
> Indigenous languages ​​like Guaraní and Mapuche are making their way into
> Wikipedia with the help offered by the editors of the colorful encyclopedia
> to teachers and students of the University of Buenos Aires (UBA), the
> largest in Argentina.
> These presentations for teachers and students of Guaraní and Mapuche in the
> Language Center of the UBA wants to "promote the development of content in
> versions that are underrepresented on the Internet," said Patricio Lorente,
> president of Wikimedia Argentina, local official of the encyclopedia.
> The training courses were held at the headquarters of the university in
> late 2011 and are planned to be repeated this year to expand the initiative.
> The editors of this South American country contacted with users of
> neighboring Bolivia promote the incorporation of content in Aymara, one of
> the main indigenous languages ​​of that country, but is also spoken in
> parts of Argentina, Peru and Chile.
> According to Unesco, language preservation is a challenge considering the
> danger of extinction that half of the 6,000 languages ​​in the world are
> facing.
> "We are concerned about the preservation of culture. That is why we teach
> to those who speak these languages ​​about Wikipedia editing rules," said
> the head of the subsidiary in Argentina, with an indigenous population of
> about 600,000 people, according to official estimates.
> Currently, the encyclopedia has about 1,500 items in Guaraní and another
> 1,700 in Aymara, while the Mapuche or Mapudungun, as is known, is still in
> "experimental phase", he said.
> However, in other Indian languages ​​such as Quechua, used in Argentina and
> six other South American countries, the experience is more extensive, with
> some 16,000 articles entered.
> "With the Mapudungun there are some additional problems because until
> recently it had no writing. And, according to the communities, they have
> different ways of writing by region. So we are seeing the possibility of
> applying a technical solution so everyone can view the articles in their
> own dialect," said Lorente.
> The main Mapuche community is in Chile, where some 600,000 members
> concentrated mainly in the region of La Araucania, and also extends to the
> Argentine Patagonia, with a hundred thousand members.
> For its part, the Guarani is one of the two official languages ​​of
> Paraguay, alongside Spanish, but also has strong presence in northern
> Argentina, especially in the province of Corrientes, which is valid for the
> authorities.
> In general, articles entered in "Vikipeta", the Guarani version of the
> encyclopedia, are small in size and are mostly associated with
> geo-referenced with data on Paraguay, Bolivia and Brazil, among others.
> The editors of the site believe that the poverty facing these peoples
> should not be an obstacle to greater difussion of their languages,
> especially when those are the only languages some of them know.
> "They have a very strong linguistic identity and vocation for the
> preservation of the language. And Wikipedia is an encyclopedia in permanent
> construction that seeks to incorporate more and more content like this," he
> said Lorente.
> For that, the local site editors also prepared a manual for editing in
> Wikipedia to be delivered to recipients of the training.
> 
> 
> 
> Osmar Valdebenito Gaete
> 
> Presidente de Wikimedia Chile
> 
> http://www.wikimediachile.cl
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