[Foundation-l] Klassical Chinese

Thu Sep 11 05:44:54 UTC 2008

Hoi,
You have always got it wrong. When you talk about common languages, you
would expect Swahili to have a large Wikipedia. When you consider Dutch,
hardly a "common" language, you will find it has a substantial Wikipedia
with all the trimmings. When you consider the English Wikipedia, for all its
size, it is very much biased against certain topics. the roads and villages
of the US are all there but where are all the roads and villages of Georgia,
Russia or Spain let alone India, Kenia or Nigeria?

When people speak a particular language as their first language, it
typically means that they share a particular culture. With this culture
certain assumptions are shared. When you learn a second language, you do not
know all the assumptions inherent in the culture that is to be associated
with this language. Even when you are right that it is "easy" to have all
content in a few languages, it does not imply that this text is properly
understood. In order to make it understood you have to dumb down the
language and that is not a good idea either. Also I am quite happy to be
Dutch, I am not eager  to contribute to the English language Wikipedia, it
seems at times like a vipers nest to me.

By the way, there are over 250 Wikipedias and Betawiki supports
substantially more languages for the MediaWiki localisation.

Thanks,
        GerardM

On Thu, Sep 11, 2008 at 7:18 AM, mboverload <mboverloadlister at gmail.com>wrote:

> On Wed, Sep 10, 2008 at 2:08 PM, Nikola Smolenski <smolensk at eunet.yu>
> wrote:
> > The point is, it is easier and cheaper to educate people in their
> language
> > than to force a foreign language on them.
>
> Call me a centrist prick, but I've always thought it would be much
> more benificial to learn a common language than it is to adapt content
> to that language.
>
> Either you stick with your home language and get a small Wikipedia
> without much content, or you learn a common language with vastly more
> content and fact-checking.  You not only loose out on Wikipedia, but a
> vast majority of the world's knowlege and interaction.
>
> Am I the only one that has a problem with having 100 Wikipedias?  Look
> at the massive effort it takes to just maintain one decent English
> Wikipedia article.  Then multiply that.  I see it as a massive
> duplication of effort (a phrase I seem to use often around here...).
> Maybe I'm just a self-centered American with a superiority complex.
>
> Someone tell me I'm wrong (I'm serious, if I'm incorrect or being a
> dick tell me)
>
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