Tell us about Latin Wikipedia

This page belongs to the project Tell us about your Wikipedia.

Questionaire

Contributors

• Wikimedia Statistics can be difficult to interprete. What is your impression, how many steady contributors do you have?

I'd say we have about 15 being active in any one week, with about 5 being very active on any one day.

On a tangent, we may get more contributions from anonymous IPs and chance visitors than some other wikis do -- because Latin has a high profile as a second/third/auxiliary language. But a proportion of these contributions are from people who think they know Latin but don't. Andrew Dalby 12:17, 21 August 2008 (UTC)

• Are your contributors mostly native speakers?

Latin has not been the first language of anyone in about 100 years.

Please allow me to ask: there are some user pages with la-N in the babel list?--Ziko-W 20:59, 20 August 2008 (UTC)

Yes, there are some. But latin is not their first language, by a long shot.--Rafaelgarcia 03:23, 21 August 2008 (UTC)

The relevant babel box says "This user speaks Latin like a native, or, more likely, is lying." No false claims there! Andrew Dalby 12:04, 21 August 2008 (UTC)

Now I see, la.WP has altered the meanings of the levels! Thanks for explanation!--Ziko-W 18:52, 21 August 2008 (UTC)

You mean to say more than a millennium, right. --140.180.53.120 18:25, 21 August 2008 (UTC)

No I meant a hundred years, because the last notable person who spoke latin that I know of, apparently as his main language growing up, was Arcadius Avellanus, who died 1935. Apparently Latin was the most common language of his country at the time. --Rafaelgarcia 20:58, 21 August 2008 (UTC)

• Where do your contributors live (regions/country)?

Everywhere, from Sri Lanka, Japan, Peru, USA, Germany, Italy, Russia. We haven't had any chinese contributors though.

• How common is it that your contributors meet in real life?

Some do, especially graduate students who study classics meet all the time.

Other Wikipedias

• Do you have special contacts with another Wikipedias (maybe in related languages)?

No, except many of our contributors were involved also in the ancient greek wiki.

• Do you translate a lot from other Wikipedias? Which ones?

Often from English, German, Spanish, and Italian. There is one person who is keen on interlingua.

Organization and support

• Is there a Wikimedia chapter in your country? How does your language relate to it?

Our "official" country is the vatican state, but I am not aware of a chapter there.

• Are there work groups in other organizations about Wikipedia?

Never heard of such.

Your Wikipedia and the linguistic community

• Is there a language institution for your language, like an Academy, or a club of people interested in your language? Do you have contact with them?

There are no offical language institutions. But there are many academies and institutions world-wide which promote the study of latin.

Actually, scientific (botanical and zoological) Latin does have official international institutions. Vicipaedia is not in scientific Latin, but we often draw vocabulary (names of plants and animals) from these special "registers". Andrew Dalby 12:17, 21 August 2008 (UTC)

• Who (else) supports you?

Contributors. A number of latin websites link to us.

• How looks your public outreach for your edition? Do you have flyers, give lectures, trainings etc.?

Not aware of any--is there a need? I did give a talk at a grade school latin class earlier this year. And the kids got a real kick of the article on Winnie ille Pu. But there is no organized outreach effort.

• Do you get feedback from readers?

We've gotten some press in the newspapers.

• What other encyclopedias exist in your language?

Only very old ones from 1800's and before.

Content

• Does your edition concentrates on certain topics, like your region and language, or Latin Wikipedia on Roman history and Christianity?

This is a misperception about the latin wikipedia, it would seem. The Latin wikipedia does not focus on roman history or christianity any more than the english wikipedia. In its present state, in fact, overall it does not meet the quality of the english wiki on these topics. But rather than correct this deficiency on religious topics, we are striving to be more well-rounded.

• Did your edition enjoy text donations, for example from older encyclopedias?

Here and there there are such left overs from early days, but we've pretty much got rid of most of it, so that it is a very minor part.

Language

• Is there a generally accepted norm about your language (spelling, dictionary, pronunciation)?

Yes, there is a generally accepted form, but there are several orthographical variations in use worldwide.

• How do you deal with different spellings, dialects etc. (like B.E. lift and A.E. elevator)?

We insist on using the most common spelling system (without macrons or accents) throughout as a matter of consistency. With regard to different dialects, we almost always prefer the ancient expressions over modern ones, though we cite both or explain any difference at the beginning of the relevant article.