[Translators-l] [Foundation-l] elections

Michelle Gallaway mgallaway at gmail.com
Mon Apr 9 00:27:37 UTC 2007


With respect, a lot of candidates are going to
struggle to get their statements in in under 150 words.  I know that I
would.  If we attempt to put a rule down like
this, we're either going to be ignored by many candidates or at least stir
up resentment.

Maybe a better idea is to just refuse to translate statements over a certain
size?  That way our more lexically inclined candidates can spout off their
essay and be restricted to English voters only, or people can write concise,
brief statements, and be translated?

- Michelle G.



On 4/7/07, Guillaume Paumier <guillom.pom at gmail.com> wrote:
>
> Hello,
>
> On 4/6/07, Brion Vibber <brion at wikimedia.org> wrote:
> >
> >
> > The voting period was long, but there was very little time between the
> > finalization of candidates and the beginning of voting. One consequence
> > of this was that translators had not completed translation of candidate
> > statements at the time the voting began.
> >
> > There should be more time ahead to prepare.
>
>
> Indeed. Though translators really do their best, it is very difficult to
> achieve translation of all candidate's statements. Last time the statements
> were *suggested* not to exceed 1,000 characters [1]. Some rules must be
> changed.
>
> I suggest the following extra rules :
> * For the pre-(s)election candidates, only a *short presentation* (~50
> words) ; easy and fast to translate, even for many candidates. These
> statements may be translated only in « big » languages, i.e. those of the
> most developed projects.
> * For the final candidates, *no more than 150 words*. These statements
> should be translated in as many languages as possible.
> * All statements *must* be written in simple words, simple sentences
> without any idioms.
> * All candidates *must* write their statement in all languages they speak.
> They know what they want to say better than anyone, so it's better to have a
> rough translation by themselves that will be refined later than a
> well-written serious mistranslation.
>
> To the future candidates: respect the work of translators. Last time, some
> candidates largely exceeded the characters limit. Their statements were
> however translated because the translators felt a moral obligation to
> translate them. Though, such an attitude from candidates shows a disrespect
> to our volunteer translators. So, if you long to be a community
> representative, first respect the community by following these simple rules.
> Thanks.
>
> [1] http://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Election_candidates_2006/En
>
> --
> Guillaume Paumier
> [[m:User:guillom]]
> http://www.wikimedia.org
> _______________________________________________
> Translators-l mailing list
> Translators-l at lists.wikimedia.org
> http://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/translators-l
>
>
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