Hi Olin,
We decided to have a smaller set of languages since we are limited by the resources that we have available for programming, data cleaning and analysis. We had to make some tough choices to arrive at this list of languages. We were guided by data on mobile page views from stats.wikimedia.org, strategic importance of regions & countries and type of language (character, left to right etc.). 
We leaned towards languages that we know get a lot of mobile page views, plus the importance of the country in the strategic plan and tried to ensure that we had different types of language in the mix so we can come to know usability issues on phones.
Thanks for understanding
Mani



On 7/28/11 9:37 PM, Olli wrote:
Why you only accept those languages?

Olli

2011/7/28 Casey Brown <lists@caseybrown.org>
Hello everyone,

The Global Development Department at the Wikimedia Foundation is
running another survey, this time focusing on mobile readers rather
than editors. This is another important survey that will help us
understand a lot more about the people who use mobile services and how
our mobile sites can be improved.

This translation request is a little different than most translation
requests. Instead of accepting translations in any language people are
willing to translate it to, we will only be accepting translations in
a few specific languages. Here is the list of languages:
* English (en)
* Japanese (ja)
* Spanish (es)
* German (de)
* French (fr)
* Russian (ru)
* Portuguese (pt)
* Turkish (tr)
* Arabic (ar)
* Chinese (zh)

If your language is on that list, then we would love your help in
getting the survey translated. :-)

Like usual, all of the translations pages are on Meta-Wiki:
* Workspace: <http://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Research:Wikipedia_Mobile_Readers_Survey_2011/Translation>
* Source: <http://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Research:Wikipedia_Mobile_Readers_Survey_2011/Translation/en>

The deadline for translations is Wednesday, August 10, 2011.

Thank you all for your help! If you have any questions, feel free to
send them to me, this list, or post to the talk page on Meta-Wiki.

Thanks again,
Casey

--
Casey Brown
Cbrown1023

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Mani Pande, PhD
Head of Global Development Research
Wikimedia Foundation
415-882-7981 ext 6721
Twitter: manipande
Skype: manipande