I'd like to ecco (is that an eEnglish word..?) Michael Finney here. Most people who engage them self in a small language wikimedia projects will sooner or later participate in projects like en:wp and commons as well - and thus both learn more about the "facts of reality" as well as communicating with others in a (for them) foreign language.
They may of course also learn the not so pleasant fact of reality that native English speakers unfortunately sometimes come across as a rather arrogant lot (an attitude also unfortunately often also adapted by dutch/scandinavians etc who often are more comfortable using English than other language groups - I've been arrogant myself at times) Finn Rindahl (mainly nowiki&commons) 2008/12/1 Michael Finney <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> > Jimbo: > Thank you for your comments. As a person who manages a small wiki project > and two language forks from it, I found some of the comments very > disturbing... almost frightening that such exist. Your comments re-affirm > my > confidence in the Wikimedia Foundation and its purpose. > > Thanks. > > Mike > > On Mon, Dec 1, 2008 at 1:24 PM, Jimmy Wales <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > > > Geni wrote: > > >>> "The mission of the Wikimedia Foundation is to empower and engage > > >>> people around the world " first line of the mission statement. By > > >>> actively promoting minority languages you lock more people into them > > >>> which is not consistent with trying to empower them. > > > > I wrote: > > >> I do not share geni's views at all. > > > > Thomas Dalton wrote: > > > It doesn't seem that anyone does... > > > > > > I should add at the same time that I think that it is a good thing for > > people to try to learn a relevant global language in addition to their > > local language, with the choice depending upon personal context. > > > > In many parts of the world and for many people, English is an excellent > > choice of a second language. In other parts of the world (Francophone > > Africa for example), French is an excellent choice. Chinese might be > > good for some people. Russian for others. Hindi for others. There are > > many variables. > > > > And I hope that Wikipedia is helpful to people both in learning about > > the facts of reality (usually most comfortably done in your mother > > tongue) and in learning another language. I don't see these goals as > > being in competition at all, but rather mutually reinforcing. > > > > --Jimbo > > > > _______________________________________________ > > foundation-l mailing list > > foundation-l@lists.wikimedia.org > > Unsubscribe: https://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/foundation-l > > > _______________________________________________ > foundation-l mailing list > foundation-l@lists.wikimedia.org > Unsubscribe: https://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/foundation-l > _______________________________________________ foundation-l mailing list foundation-l@lists.wikimedia.org Unsubscribe: https://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/foundation-l
