[Wikipedia-l] Request for Tetum language - reminder

Thu Mar 9 03:18:35 UTC 2006

Last January 14 and 15 I sent two msg to this group
(http://mail.wikipedia.org/pipermail/wikipedia-l/2006-January/043424.html
and
http://mail.wikipedia.org/pipermail/wikipedia-l/2006-January/043428.html),
asking for the creation of a Wikipedia in Tetum language, one of the two
official languages of Timor-Leste (or East Timor), the youngest independent
nation in the world (the other official language is Portuguese).

In the meantime, this project got 15 supporters, 8 of them native-speakers
of Tetum (see:
http://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Approved_requests_for_new_languages#Tetum_.28
15_support_.5B8_native_speakers.5D.29).

Subsequently, I created a test page
(http://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Test-wp/tet) that presently has a dozen
articles in Tetum and a few others in the process of being translated to
Tetum.

Anyway, I find it difficult to attract Tetum-speaking people to work in a
Wikipedia that is still in a test phase. So, I wonder if any developer can
inform me if this new language version of Wikipedia is about to the set up
or not.

I'm absolutely convinced the Wikipedia in Tetum is viable, and that it can
be an exceptional tool for East-Timorese to promote their national language
internally and abroad. And I'm not alone in this feeling. Giuseppe d'Angelo
said in a subsequent msg: "One can't understate what such a venture [the
creation of a Wikipedia in Tetum] would do to the self-esteem of a whole
people. It will take a while to get going, given their problems with basic
infrastructure, but I am certain that it would eventually succeed. There is
also likely to be a thriving community of Tetum speakers in nearby Darwin,
where they are likely to have better infrastructure - it's just a case of
getting the message through to them."

I will do my best to get the message to the East-Timorese in Australia, in
Portugal, in Indonesia, etc. -- as well as in East Timor. But, first of all,
you [the developers] gotta set up this new Wikipedia.

Plz let me know where are we standing of this.

Thanks & regards,
Manuel de Sousa