Kasutaja:Pusle8/Minority Translate

This page summarizes a project devised for the development of minor language activity within wikipedia with possible benefits for wikipedia and also for the world outside of it. Currently the project is in conception-phase, however if progress is made, the page will also be accordingly updated. The last update was made 03-06-2013.

Any help or discussion that may benefit to making this project or some other similar variation a reality will be greatly welcomed and quickly responded to. Also very welcome to this wiki page are any references to similar endeavors, interested parties or already existing applications that may be combined to make this happen.

Project for minor language translations in wikipedia

Problem

The wikipedia framework has provided an unprecedented access to global expression for minor languages in the world facilitating both the storage of information in and translation of world knowledge into these minor languages. According to recent evaluations 50%-90% of the language diversity is described as moribund within by the year 2100 . According to the philosophies within the wikipedia community, there is a deadline, which means that any speedup in gathering materials should be amply welcomed.

In addition to recording knowledge that might otherwise be lost, wikipedia has become a translation platform to render knowledge already stored accessible to different communities. Thus much of wikipedia content is created by translating and accommodating articles established in major world languages. This creates an opportunity for previously unconcievable knowledge transfer, as cultures across the world endeavor to understand each other, while with the involvement of a community in creation of such medium have a strong positive impact even of the ethnolinguistic vitality within the community.

For encouraging more widespread activities in this cycle, the effort of wikipedia translation should be made as easy and as accessible to potential participants as possible. As a more static result increased endeavors in translation will populate the wikipedias of minority languages, while at a more dynamic end, such invitation for participation may have real positive effects in encouraging the use of native languages in communities with low ethnolinguistic vitalities.

Reasoning

The preservation of old and unfamiliar languages has been usually accompanied with a desire to understand the foreign people, and more often a desire to make oneself understood to them. This has led to a description of those languages in writing in order to facilitate learning and trade, and translations of texts of your own culture into a foreign language. A very notable initiative here-in is the continuing endeavor of Summer Institute of Linguistics to translate the bible into each language, with the missionaries often inventing a written script just for this purpose.

Languages have been for some time been classified by their domains of access (whether you can e.g. conduct science or administrative affairs with it, whether it provides access to valued accomplishments of other cultures) - as such, the story of a development of a language has often been a story of translation, as the expressions of foreign languages are incorporated to one's own language, and global legitimacy is sought to one's own language.

Modern wikipedia can provide both the platform to extend the means of expressions of any minor language as well as provide novel legitimacy for the use of language, where it is often not economically desirable or socially possible. Creating access to the world knowledge for your own language may provide a valued linguistic activity that may also extend the domains a language was used for, thus potentially even facilitating linguistic survival in long term.

Solution

Both for creation of wikipedia content and involvement of minor language speakers, not much may be needed besides ease of access to tools of translation and content. Ordinarily wikipedia articles a structured by a brief summary of the whole contents which usually also contain the most vital information. An idea would be to create an application that introduces new writers easily to the wikipedia community, and also provides them the knowledge needed for the creation of content.

In very simple terms, this may be done with a stand-alone application that:

1. Exports the first few sentences from the articles of selected domains.
2. Displays them to the user easily and automatically (one click should take you to the next potential basis for translation already).
3. Allows a space for the user to translate the article by their own words and into their own language.
4. (Possibly assesses that result against 5-10 other translations.)
5. Finally posts it on the wikipedia article of the language in question.

Implementation

Given the necessarily slow development of a very big project such as wikimedia framework. The easiest solution to begin with should be a stand-alone app that mediates information within wikipedia and the final output, to the desired extent (e.g. choice from 1-10 sentences displayed). The environment may benefit from a specialized setup and thus a lack of distractions, however should be easily customizable where different preferences may be apparent

Post-production

Part of the project should be in getting it to the potential users and people who might benefit from it, thus, once a working prototype is completed it should be followed by a strong "advertisement" campaign among wikipedists, linguists, minority language representatives and so on. The platform should prove useful already with simple access to computers and internet, and perhaps should find such areas as its primary focus.

The use of it by schools and among children and teenagers may have numerous benefits to the activity of the user as well as factors of ethnolinguistic vitality of any particular language.

Subnote: This project should naturally remain in the field of free and open source software, and could be incorporated any way the users like.