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TOPIC: Wikipedia Translation Workshop: Bridging�Language Gaps

FACILITATED BY OLATUNJI MARVELOUS

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AWA INCLUSION AND CLIMATE

JUSTICE PROJECT

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UNDERSTANDING LANGUAGE GAPS 1

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UNDERSTANDING LANGUAGE GAP 2

What do you think the challenge will be for a language like Yoruba, which has

over 50 million speakers but only a little above 35,000 Wikipedia articles?

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POINTS TO NOTE:

  • Some of these speakers are not literate in English, so they rely on their

native language for communication and accessing knowledge.

  • Information about some of these communities is not available on their

local-language Wikipedia.

  • The Wikimedian movement is committed to ensuring that the sum of all

human knowledge is freely accesible to everyone.

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QUESTION:

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THE SOLUTION...

The onus of bridging language gaps fall on native speakers of these languages, not Machine translation service nor any other means/methods of creating articles.

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Many notable topics are covered on some language Wikipedias, like English

Wikipedia. So translating articles from these language Wikipedias to other

language Wikipedia is an effective way to bridge language gaps.

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TRANSLATION GUIDELINES

  • Do not use AI or translation apps/services; they are largely inaccurate and lack context when it comes to translating from or to certain language (You can get banned!)
  • Don’t try to translate if you don’t speak the language well enough to understand what you’re tranlating.
  • Always fact-check before translating any content (Large language Wikipedias are reliable but not infallible)

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SELECTING AN ARTICLE FOR TRANSLATION

There are criterias that must be met before selecting an article for translation

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      • Ensure the article is not already existing on your local language Wikipedia
      • Priotize (but do not limit your contributions) articles that are relevant to

the readers of your local language Wikipedia

  • The article should contain “enough” information on the subject it is about
      • There is no need translating a stub, make your own research on the topic

instead

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HOW TO GET INVOLVED?

  • SIMPLY �TRANSLATE
  • ARTICLES
  • TODAY

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IT’S PRACTICAL TIME !

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