Wikiversity:Multilingualism/eo
Wikiversity Beta is a global platform aiming at coordinating Wikiversity projects in several languages. In order to benefit from the input of its many members (not only English-writers), Beta has to set up an efficient multilingual discussion system.
Existing system
Multilingualism is often a one-way concept: first there is a source page in English language, then people translate it to make it understandable to non-English-readers. The main drawback of this system is non-English-writers cannot take part in discussion, all they can do is passively read what is translated.
As the issues discussed on Beta concern Wikiversities in all languages, it is necessary that participants from all projects can give their opinions.
Proposed system
Discussion about this proposal is welcome on the talk page.
Guidelines to make this system work
- The shorter, the better. Conciseness is the key to efficient multilingual discussions. Long paragraphs will probably not be translated, nor will they be reflected on other language pages. That means the possible ideas / criticisms / questions will not get any attention.
- Announce : when a discussion starts, it should be announced on Wikiversity:Announcements.
- Paragraph numbering: Paragraphs should be numbered to be easily identified: first summary is #1, new summaries follow. This means participants have to check the other pages before adding a paragraph on their page to make sure their page is up-to-date and to avoid number conflicts.
Benefits of this system
- Everybody can join and take part in the discussion.
- Participants are required to be brief and to focus on key topics.
- Consensus is likely to occur between all participants, whatever their language is.
Drawbacks
- This system relies on the number of translators and their efficiency.
Translation
If you are proficient in more than one language, add yourself to the translators list at Wikiversity:Translation.