[WikiEN-l] Category translation

Tue Jun 6 19:30:35 UTC 2006

On 6/6/06, Steve Bennett <stevagewp at gmail.com> wrote:
> On 6/6/06, Anthony DiPierro <wikilegal at inbox.org> wrote:
> > Jimbo and others have also made it clear that any cultural distinction
> > between different language Wikipedias is accidental and in fact goes
> > against the intention (this in the context of which languages should
> > have a Wikipedia, but the idea carries here as well).  We don't have a
> > British Encyclopedia and an American one, because we can both
> > understand each other well enough to communicate.  If it were
> > *possible* to automatically translate all articles into every language
> > while keeping the content the same, we'd do so.  It just isn't, at
> > least not with current technology.
>
> Is there an official or even unofficial policy on this? I have
> wondered. IMHO, the Wikipedias should *not* be precise translations
> though. For example, [[en:Personal pronoun]] should give descriptions
> of personal pronouns in all languages, but with emphasis and examples
> from English. [[fr:Pronom personnel]] should similarly have an
> emphasis on French, because that is the most helpful for French
> readers. Whether that extends to cultural matters (should French
> articles on cartoons draw more on examples from French cartoons such
> as Asterix than on manga for instance) is up for debate.
>
I agree with you on the "Personal pronoun" example, though I think
it's somewhat contrived (in that I was talking more about general
principles).

I think the general principle that Wikipedia articles shouldn't be
written for any particular culture falls fairly naturally from the
NPOV policy.  Perhaps this is especially so wrt the English language
though, which is so widespread and used by people of so many different
cultures.  The cartoons example is a bit less so, but it's still an
example where the culture and language is particularly intertwined.

I've skipped over the rest of your email for now because I don't have
the time to really delve into a response.  As you say, more research
is needed.

Anthony