Submissions:2015/Translation in Wikipedia: Reorganized chaos?

Title

Translation in Wikipedia: Reorganized Chaos

Theme

community

Type of submission

presentation

Author

Julie McDonough Dolmaya

E-mail address

dolmaya@yorku.ca

Username

dolmaya

Affiliation

York University

Abstract

Although, as the Wikipedia Translation guidelines ([1]) stipulate, Wikipedia articles “on the same subject in different languages can be edited independently” and “do not have to be translations of one another or correspond closely in form, style or content,” translation occurs in Wikipedia in a variety of ways. In English Wikipedia, projects include the Translation Taskforce ([2]), which aims to translate English medical and health articles into as many other languages as possible, and Translation of the Week ([3]), which aims to translate into as many languages as possible the introductory paragraph of one important, English-language article each week. Translation can also happen through the Category:Articles needing translation from French [Spanish, Italian, German, etc.] Wikipedia pages (e.g, [4]), which are available for nearly all of the 290 languages Wikipedia currently offers. Based on published research from the field of Translation Studies, this presentation will briefly explore translation trends in English Wikipedia, including the motivations of Wikipedia translators, the language combinations that have been most frequently requested over the past five years, and the kinds of information that has frequently been transferred into English from other languages. This presentation will then consider the implications of these results on the greater Wikipedia community and attempt to answer the following questions: how can we better facilitate translation between Wikipedias? How can we encourage more users to translate articles from one Wikipedia to another? How can we diversify the types of articles that are selected for translation? And finally, how can we improve the accuracy and the quality of the translations that are produced by Wikipedians?

Length of presentation

15-30 min.

Special schedule requests

Cannot present on Sunday, October 11

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1. Cristiano Tomás (talk) 05:34, 19 August 2015 (EDT)
2. Ochilov (talk) 11:50, 21 August 2015 (EDT)
3. NegMawon (talk) 18:23, 24 August 2015 (EDT)
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