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Proposal:Kick start languages where Wikipedia is weak

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Every proposal should be tied to one of the strategic priorities below.

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  1. Achieve continued growth in readership
  2. Focus on quality content
  3. Increase Participation
  4. Stabilize and improve the infrastructure
  5. Encourage Innovation



Summary

Getting Wikipedias going in new languages can be difficult, you need a critical mass of articles and editors to create a pedia and a community.

Kick start languages where Wikipedia is weak by funding a translation team, and running a contest to decide what they should translate.

Proposal

In languages where Wikipedia is weak but potential is high:

  • Recruit some local translators who can translate from one of the larger Wikis such as English.
  • Announce a contest that every week for a year the twenty most requested articles at articles for creation will be translated into that language.
  • Press release each week that weeks results.
  • Use a Geonotice in English and other large pedias to promote this to editors and ideally readers in areas where that language is spoken.
  • Make sure the documentation very clearly says "If the article you wanted didn't get translated, why not write it yourself?".

Motivation

We want to get wikipedia going in more languages, and we want to embed from the start the idea that this will be a community project for speakers of that language.

Getting the community to decide what articles they want will be a great way to build that community and make sure that wanted articles are translated.


Key Questions

Which languages do we do first?

How do we combine the message that this start will be some translations with the idea that anyone an add more?

Potential Costs

Depending on Labour costs for translators in that language.

Possibly some advertising. Definitely some press releases.

If this is done without agreement of the existing community as happened with Bangla and Tamil then it can end in the translators being banned.

References

Community Discussion

Do you have a thought about this proposal? A suggestion? Discuss this proposal by going to Proposal talk:Kick start languages where Wikipedia is weak.

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