[Wikipedia-l] Individual Wikipedias for different Sinitic vernaculars (Cantonese debate) - update

Fri Jan 28 06:37:04 UTC 2005

Andrew Lih wrote:

>Mark, the dialect-specific Wikipedias don't "hurt" per se.
>
>But the ZH Wikipedia is already disproportionately small, even
>miniscule, given the worldwide population of speakers. That's why some
>are afraid of splintering the effort too early.
>  
>
What is exactly the level of compatibility *in writing* between those 
different dialects? Is it only a question of slightly different 
grammatical habits and some specific vocabulary? Or is it more diverse?

I note that some of the languages represented on WP, such as French and 
English, have moderate regional variations in grammar and vocabulary; 
but it is possible to write articles that are understable by all (by 
avoiding local peculiarities, for instance).