[Wikipedia-l] Re: Languages

[Anthere]

Message: 9
Date: Wed, 27 Aug 2003 12:36:26 -0700
From: Ray Saintonge <saintonge at telus.net>
Subject: Re: [Wikipedia-l] Re: Languages
To: wikipedia-l at Wikipedia.org
Message-ID: <3F4D083A.4050302 at telus.net>
Content-Type: text/plain; charset=UTF-8; format=flowed

>In Canada a genocidal policy that forced more than a
>generation of first 
>nations children into residential schools where they
>were forbidden to use their own language has put many
>of these languages in desparate 
>situations.  There may not be a critical mass of
>population for keeping some of these languages and
>cultures alive.  We can provide space for a 
>Kootenayan language Wikipedia, but what good is that
>if there is no-one around with the ability to write
in >that language?  The elders may be 
>the only ones with a functional knowlege of the
>language, but these elders are no different from the
>elders of other societies who are 
>overwhelmed by anything having to do with computers.

Every little bit can help perhaps. What else would you
suggest we can do ?

We did the same with our languages, breton, basque,
corse... The french unity is not so much relying on
political unity, than cultural, linguistic and
religious (less and less now of course, but the
principles running the society are christian based
even if we are a laic state). To achieve that unity,
in the past time, kids also were hit at school if they
talk their "home-language" (patois).

There are now a wikipedia is occitan and one in
breton.

>PS: the English for "decennie" is "decade"

<font size=-2>Merci</font>


>>The Encyclopedia is not translated and will not be
>>translated in other languages. Each language is free
>>'''in''' its own creativity. Articles from one
>language can
>>influence another language. But they are not copies.


>I changed "of" to "in" in your comment, Anthere. 
"Of" >would suggest 
>that a language is somehow liberated from its own
>creativity.

:-((((

>Your message contains a very important subtlety.  If
I >could translate 
>this text into Cree the result would not be in Cree;
>it would be in 
>English with Cree words.  There exists a pervasively
>naïve and 
>simplistic view about translations that it is just a
>matter of changing 
>words that have a one to one correspondence.  Some
>topics, notably 
>technical ones, can survive that transition very
well, >but topics that 
>are closely linked to culture fare rather badly.

So true.
Some topics, I cannot even translate from english to
french because I do not know the french words for
these.

By the Ec... the definition for "sect" seems to be
notably different from our "secte".

Someone changed the international link and now our
"secte" is linked with your "cult".

 What do you think ?

Translations are important, and words leading to
others as well.

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