[Wikipedia-l] Languages

Mon Aug 25 20:33:45 UTC 2003

on 8/25/03 1:52 PM, Merritt L. Perkins at mlperkins3 at juno.com wrote:

Topic: What language should be used in the Encyclopedia? The English
language used in the UK and other parts of the world differs from that used
in North America.

Response: There is a kind of English called International English, for
worldwide purposes that is what to use, basically it avoids both Americanism
and Britishisms. 

Topic: Translating an encyclopedia into another language is an overwhelming
project. It should be done by someone who translates it into his native
language.

Response: Folks who are native speakers of the other language are best. We
just need to wait til someone shows up.

Topic: One approach might be to follow each paragraph in English by the
paragraph translated into the other language. This could be tried out
gradually, adding more and more of an article and then starting on a few
other articles

Response: That would be up to the Wikipedia editor, after all they are just
like us and will translate the articles that strike their fancy, but often
adding different material.

Topic: I have had correspondence in English with more than 50 people all
over the world. Some of them were fluent in two or three other languages. In
one place on the island of Borneo there are no roads so people travel by
boat on crocodile infested rivers. In Malawi one family sleeps standing up
when it rains because the roof leaks.

Response: Wow! 

Topic: In poor countries some families could not afford to operate a
computer even though it was given to them. Their diets are poor, they have
no shoes, and sanitation is bad. They might be able to use computers in
schools and libraries.

Response: One supposes a rising tide lifts all boats, eventually....

Topic: Schools or libraries would need to have several computers that can
connect to the Internet so that each user would have time enough to use one

Response: Yes our little library here in Crestone, Colorado has 5 or 6
serving about 600 folks (but most of them have their own computer at home.

Topic: It takes too long to read a long Encyclopedia entry while connected
to the Internet so there should be a way to copy it so that it can be read
later.

Response: A printer is good for that or you can save the article.

Topic: It seems like a great idea to record the encyclopedia on a CD but by
the time we can make a copy (an hour) it would be out of date. When a
prominent person dies his article needs to be changed, when a government
changes or a building is destroyed the encyclopedia needs to be updated.

Response: Might have to publish it like a magazine, as a weekly or monthly
issue. 

Topic: Subjects that have only an obscure mention should have their own
article, other articles should be brought up date or deleted, new articles
added.

Response: Yes obscure topics are important, finding the straight dope on
obscure topics is half the fun.

Topic: This was dictated with Dragon NaturallySpeaking 7. Sometimes it works
perfectly, at other times it prints out things that are not said or after
the material is edited it inserts things on its own. Spell check changes
things that are correct to something else.

Response: Cool. 

This was formatted as text.

Merritt L. Perkins 

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