Difference between revisions of "Anabaptistwiki:Language policy"

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Within the Global Anabaptist Wiki we are building a set of encyclopedic pages about the global Anabaptist church in four languages (English, French, German, and Spanish).  Articles in the Global Anabaptist Wiki should be translated into these four languages.
 
Within the Global Anabaptist Wiki we are building a set of encyclopedic pages about the global Anabaptist church in four languages (English, French, German, and Spanish).  Articles in the Global Anabaptist Wiki should be translated into these four languages.
  
* English is the main languages for pages about the Global Anabaptist Wiki (in other words pages that begin with <code>Template:</code>, <code>Anbapatistwiki:</code>, <code>Category:</code>, and <code>Help:</code>), and all root pages should be named and written in English.
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* English is the root language for pages in the Global Anabaptist Wiki.  All root pages should be named and written in English.
:* Other languages should be placed in an appropriately named sub-page of the English version. E.g. the French version of [[Help:Contents]] should be at [[Help:Contents/fr]] (not Help:Sommaire, Aide:Sommaire or Help:Sommaire/fr).
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* Other languages should be placed in an appropriately named language page by adding the appropriate [[#Language Codes|language code]] to the root page title. E.g. the Spanish version of [[Anabpatistwiki:About]] should be at [[Anabaptistwiki:About/es]] (not Anabaptistwiki:Sobre or Anabaptistwiki:Sobre/es).  Use the following abbreviations to create pages in French, German, or Spanish.
* Language sub-pages should be named using the appropriate language code for that language (see [[#Language codes|below]]).
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* Language pages should be named using the appropriate language code for that language (see [[#Language Codes|below]]).
 
* Sub-pages should ''only'' be used for translations into other languages, not for English content (e.g. you shouldn't use <code>Table editing/example</code> - use <code>Table editing example</code> or <code>Example of table editing</code> instead).
 
* Sub-pages should ''only'' be used for translations into other languages, not for English content (e.g. you shouldn't use <code>Table editing/example</code> - use <code>Table editing example</code> or <code>Example of table editing</code> instead).
 
* If an international version of a page exists but an English version does not, then please create a stub article for the English version as this aids navigation.
 
* If an international version of a page exists but an English version does not, then please create a stub article for the English version as this aids navigation.

Revision as of 15:36, 27 July 2009

This page describes the current multi-lingual policy on the Global Anabaptist Wiki.

Naming Pages

Within the Global Anabaptist Wiki we are building a set of encyclopedic pages about the global Anabaptist church in four languages (English, French, German, and Spanish). Articles in the Global Anabaptist Wiki should be translated into these four languages.

  • English is the root language for pages in the Global Anabaptist Wiki. All root pages should be named and written in English.
  • Other languages should be placed in an appropriately named language page by adding the appropriate language code to the root page title. E.g. the Spanish version of Anabpatistwiki:About should be at Anabaptistwiki:About/es (not Anabaptistwiki:Sobre or Anabaptistwiki:Sobre/es). Use the following abbreviations to create pages in French, German, or Spanish.
  • Language pages should be named using the appropriate language code for that language (see below).
  • Sub-pages should only be used for translations into other languages, not for English content (e.g. you shouldn't use Table editing/example - use Table editing example or Example of table editing instead).
  • If an international version of a page exists but an English version does not, then please create a stub article for the English version as this aids navigation.
  • All pages in the help namespace should be tagged with the {{Languages}} template, which automatically creates links to all available translations.

This system will be compatible with the planned automated import/export of Help pages, but may need a bit of working around to export/import non-English pages in the interim.

The main page

The English version of our front page is located at MediaWiki. Translated versions are located at MediaWiki/code, where code is the language code (e.g. MediaWiki/fr). Please see Project:Main page templates for more details about creating or editing this content.

Importantly, the rules about language codes (see below) should be followed here as well.

Other namespaces

Apart from the Main Page, no policy has yet been decided about other namespaces. For the time being, if you would like to create translations for pages in other namespaces then please do so as described for the Help: namespace, however content may be moved or deleted depending on the policy that is eventually adopted.

Discussion is ongoing at Project:Current issues.

Note that the rule that English content should not be placed in sub-pages does not apply to other namespaces. This is one of the issues that needs resolving.

Language codes

Throughout MediaWiki.org you should use the language codes specified by the MediaWiki software when creating language-specific content (see Names.php for the full and up-to-date list).

Please also bear the following in mind:

  • If the language code is not found in Names.php then we should not host help pages in that language.
  • If you want to add a language that is not present, first get it added to the software (by making a request at Bugzilla) and only add pages here once the changes have been accepted.
  • If MediaWiki uses the 'incorrect' code for a language then you should also (for consistency) use that incorrect code here. If you think a code is incorrect you should discuss it on Bugzilla, and if this results in it being changed we will move the pages to match.
  • Note that some language codes in Names.php are now deprecated (e.g. zh-yue has been replaced with yue). In these cases only the most recent code should be used.

See also