Wikipedia talk:Translation

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See :

• Category:Wikipedia:Translation which contains (hopefully) all what is needed to make wikipedia:Translation work.
• Category:Translation sub-pages or Special:Allpages/From/Wikipedia:Translation which gives an overview of all translation sub-pages

See also Wikipedia:Translation/*/Port Wikipedia Translation on another wikipedia if you want to port the translation infrastructure.

Translation from Latin

I regularly contribute to the article on my home city, Mechelen, (and one or two related articles). A long time ago, even before I took on a Wikipedia user name, I rewrote the whole article but had maintained the main part of the 'History' section in a still very poor state: as a former capital (early 16th century) of the historical Netherlands (roughly Belgium and the present Netherlands), it deserves better but it's quite complicated as the city had almost never been part of its surrounding area. I came along a text in Latin dating from 1490 that might confirm or deny other (less official) sources, but my understanding of Latin is far too limited to figure it out. I would appreciate a translation into English or Dutch (I can translate between those two), e.g. by a hobbyist Latin translator. The text from the city's archives was found here on a site in the Netherlands, or just open this:

 Privilege granted by Emperor Frederick III to the city of Mechelen on January 10, 1490  ^{— open} → → → →

"Fridericus divina favente clemencia Romanorum Imperator semper Augustus Hungarie Dalmacie Croacie &c Rex ac Austrie Stirie Karinthie et Carniole Dux. Dominus Marche Sclavonice ac Portusnaonis. Comes in Habspurg Tirolis Phieretis et in Kiburg. Marchio Burgonie et Lanndtgravius Alsacie. Ad perpetuam rei memoriam. Et si imperatorie Maiestatis vire benignitas ex innata sibi clemencia quibustuis sacro Romano imperio subiectis libertatum et graciarum premia reddere consueverit idisz ex crediti nobis officy misterio prosequi teneamus. Illos tumen in primis precipuis donis afficere et singularibus honoribus dignitatibus et preheminencys extollere debere dignos censimus ymo cosdem in gremio nre celsitudinis singulariter fouendos fore summo studio incendimur quos inmote fidei constancia nullus nouerrantis fortune impetus a fide et observancia sacri Romani Imperio removere aut aliquantis per aliorsum flectere valuit. Sanc fidem muiolatam et obsequia indefessa quibus Opidum et totus facii impero districtus Mechlimen ac nra tempestute sese Sacro Imperio gratissim exhibuit cum id solum Serenissimi principis dni Maximiliani Roman Regis semper augusti ac Archiducis Austrie Ducis Burgundie Brabancie Gelrie &c Comitis Flandrie et Tirolis &c Flandriam et totum fere Brabanciam potentissimus sue Serenitatis hostes sustinerit et vitam et bona in cuis statum et honorem servandum liberali vultu et animo expendere non dubitauit. Non inmerito perisan ac tantanullius Opidi et districtus fidem perpetuitati conmendare cupientes quo planeomis etas vsisz in consumationem seculi rideat et agnoscat quantum sit quantumisz honoris et fame inmortalis pariat principis sui fidem servasse inniolatam et incontussam. Nos non per errorem aut inprovide sed animo deliberato sanosz morum ac sacri Imperio principum Comitum Baronum et aliorum fidelium et subditorum morum accedente consilio ex certa sei encia nra et plenitudine Imperialis potestatis prefatum Opidum Mechlimen et cuis districtum acertvs temporibus vsos ni hanc diem solo Dominy titulo gauden in Nobilem et perpetuum Comitatum de Nous exeanimus extulimus sublimavimus ac pricuim tenore excamus effermius et sublimanius. Hoc Imperiali edicto decernen ut idem Maximilianus Romanorum Rex simul et Illustus Philippus Archidux Austrie Dux Burgundie Brabancie Gelrie &c Comes Flandrie Tirolis &c nepos me carissimus et comes et singuli corem heredes et descenden ad quos Legittimo successionis aut alio Iure pe districtus vnatum Opidi Mechliniense peruenerint hinc inantea futuris temporibus abomibus Comites Mechlinien reputari appellari teneri et honorari et upi serpos Comites Mechlinienses existvmare scribere et reputare Ipsi similiter acipii Opidum Mechlinen omibs dignitatibus honoribus Titulis furibus preheminentys et consuetudinibus gaudere et sini debeant quibus ceteri sacri Imperio Comites et coruni subditisieti sunt hactenus et cottidie poruntur et fenuntur Legibus Statutis municipalibus consuetudinibus et abys incontrariusucier non obstan quibusennis. Quo vero dictum oppidum Mechliense, caput districtus prefati, pro meritorum suorum erga nos et sacrum Romanum imperium magnitudine, benevolenciam, nostrae Cesaree celstudinis magis agnoscat, ejus solita insignia, videlicet scutum divionibus citrinis et rubeis secundum longum interscutum meliorare constituimus. Adjicientes eidem integram aquilam nigram, nulla sui parte minutam, sed cum extensis alis, tamquam ad volatum paratis figuratam, omni modo et forma quo eade Romanorum Regis uti consueve­runt. Itavt Ipsi Mechlinen eodem Stuto Aquilas prefata in medio cuis collocata in Sigillis Annullis Clenodys ac omnibus publicis et prinatvs actibus vti antea facere consueverunt vti et fini potuerunt contradiction et impedimento cessan quoruminis. Nulle ergo omnio bonii Liceat hanc vire creacionis sublimacionis Exemonis meliocienis Armorum decreti et derogarienis paginani inserigere aut exquonis ansu temerario con traire sub pena vire indignacionis gravissima et Mille Marecutum auri puri quae contrafacien toriens quoriens contrafactum fuerit upo facto se nouerint veremissimiliter mansuros. Quaru medietatem Imperialis fiscisi­ne Exary Residuam vero partem ininziam passorum vsibus decernio applicari Primum sub nostre Imperialis Maestatis Sigilli appensidy testimonio Suarum. Dat in Opidonis Lynnitz die Decima Mensis January Anno dni Millesimoqua­drigentesimo Nonagesiomo Regnorum nostrorum Fornam Quinquagesimo Impery Tricesimo Octavo Hungarie vero Tricesimo primo.

Ad mandatum dni Imperatoris.

 Already translated names

• In English, the adjective form of Mechelen as well as an inhabitant is 'Mechlinian'; in Dutch 'Mechels(e)' and 'Mechelaar' respectively.
• Fridericus is Frederick III, Holy Roman Emperor, Maximilianus is Maximilian I, Holy Roman Emperor, Philippus is Philip I of Castile aka Philip IV, Duke of Burgundy, the Handsome. — This Privilege granted in 1490 might be a recognition of Mechlinian loyalty to the Austrians in a time other cities had rebelled, see the latter article's section 'Early life'. I assume it might have made Mechelen to a County ("Comites Mechlinienses"), a little-known fact I had heard about (no-one was ever called 'Count of Mechelen' though the right would have passed on to mayors till the early 20th century and would be confirmed by the eagle in the city's arms), and for which I would like to have the proper source.
• Could "districtus Mechlimen" and "prefatum Opidum Mechlimen" be misprints, should these not be "Mechlinem"?

-

If someone is interested in doing this, please put the translation on my talk page. Kind regards. — SomeHuman 14 Mar2007 19:14 (UTC)

Précis of of foreign language articles

I have seen a number of articles that that are a précis of an equivalent article that appears in a foreign language version of Wikipedia. Often the article discusses a matter that is more pertinent to the foreign language than to English, making a full translation into English inappropriate. Such articles are sometimes flagged for having insufficient references. Would it be appropriate for these articles to identify themselves as being a précis of the foreign language article in much the same way that the "Main article" byline is used in English language articles and thereby implictly use the references in the foreign language article? Martinvl (talk) 07:00, 17 October 2009 (UTC)

Environmental Terminology Discovery Service

This message is about the following external link: Environmental Terminology Discovery Service — EEA. I added this link under a new heading "External links", but it was removed at 16:55, 9 December 2009. The edit summary says: "[rv] Pg discusses translation of foreign-language WP articles into English; added link to dictionary of environmental terms doesn't fit?"
The glossary has not only same-language definitions in the 28 languages but also translations among the languages. For example, from the linked page, one can select the ISO 639 code "de" for German, and open the page http://glossary.de.eea.europa.eu/. Selecting "A" opens http://glossary.de.eea.europa.eu/terminology/list_html?letter=A. Selecting the first entry, "abbau" (for "Abbau"), opens http://glossary.de.eea.europa.eu/terminology/concept_html?term=abbau. Under "Translations" there is for "en" (English) the translation "decomposition" (linked), and there is for "en-US" (American English) the translation "degradation" (linked). Maybe this is a better way to add the link:

• Environmental Terminology Discovery Service — EEA

(multilingual environmental glossary in 28 languages, with same-language definitions and multilingual translations)

-- Wavelength (talk) 21:03, 9 December 2009 (UTC)

From what has been written above, it would appear that the removal of this link was unneccessary. My advise is firstly to check the user page of the editor concerned. Then restore the link and to add a note on the talk page of the article concerend. If the original editor appears to have been a monolingual script kiddy, who is vandalising anything that appears to be non-English, then they will probably not revisit the article and therefore not challenge your restoration. You should tune the amount of effort that you put into the talk page comments to your perception of who removed the link in the first place.

-- Martinvl (talk) 08:46, 10 December 2009 (UTC)

Leaving aside personal remarks and advising bad faith presumption as better addressed on a user talkpage, let's focus on the content issue here. The above editor added the link to this page, i.e., Wikipedia:Translation. This is a projectspace document giving brief explanation of the steps to take if you wish to translate, or desire somebody to translate, a specific article on a foreign language Wikipedia that has superior content to its en-wikip counterpart, into the en-wikip article. The external link, is an A–Z glossary of terms of a distinct field (environmental topics). When I looked at and followed the link, I found that as far as I could see it didn't correspond to this page, and therefore decided to remove it. That's why I gave a brief explanation of the purpose of this page, drawn from this page, with a note the link didn't correspond followed by a question mark indicating I thought there may've been some confusion, in my edit summary—which the editor repeated and linked above. The editor added it to another projectspace page one minute earlier (WikiProject Environment), and three articles (Glossary of environmental science, Glossary of climate change; Index of meteorology articles) shortly afterward. Those, fall within the distinct topic field as well as format of the external webpage. At present I still don't see it's a suitable fit for this page, but am open to collegial discussion as always. –Whitehorse1 20:48, 10 December 2009 (UTC)

Whitehorse1 – The fact that you picked this up within 24 hours means that you had a definite interest in the discussion, so I apologise for any insult that you might have had personally. Had you not picked it up, then my description would have held. Since I could not see the changes in context, I did not know who had made the changes and I had to make some assumptions. I might add that my judgement was coloured by a request that I had regarding an article that I had written from somebody called “FeinianHunter’”. This person had their account closed shortly afterwards for having an offensive name.

Regarding my actual comments - I can understand why the original editor concerned might have been reluctant to publicise the page – I have been in the same position as him. I had resolved some red links in an English-language article by linking to a foreign language Wikipedia page on the basis that there would probably never be an English-language article to satisfy the links. I then made the mistake of asking for some views on what I had done. A respondent, who appears to have had no interest in the subject, picked up on the discussion and removed all my links. I waited a few weeks and then re-inserted them. I believe that I did the right thing. —Preceding unsigned comment added by Martinvl (talk • contribs) 21:59, 10 December 2009 (UTC)

Okay. As before I'll leave issues of personal remarks or bad faith presumption to address in user talkspace. Regarding the content matter at hand, it took a while before I understood the second part of your comment. We seem still to be at cross purposes. Again, this, i.e., Wikipedia:Translation, is the page the original editor added the external link to. The original editor (Wavelength) linked to the removal in his 2nd sentence, above. We're on its associated talkpage. –Whitehorse1 01:56, 11 December 2009 (UTC)

Translation project

User:Proteins and I are in contact with a technology company that wishes to use some software it has developed that is a kind of graphic interface for translators to increase the amount of health-related information in developing-world languages. Since this is quite a large company, this project might eventually cover many languages, but we are thinking about starting off small at around five (eg Swahili is one leading option). The real work will be in developing a community of translators and bilingual experts in each destination language, and the company is willing to help with this as well, but at our end we will need to provide a list of articles on "essential health information", internationalize these as much as possible, and polish them a bit. This proposal is still in its initial stage, but could people who would be interested in participating sign up here. Thank you Tim Vickers (talk) 17:11, 22 December 2009 (UTC)

This seems confusing to me. "The company is willing to help with this"? What does "willing to help" mean? Is this a paid project to provide services to this company? If not, as is implied by the "willing to help" incentive being thrown out, why is anybody providing services to this company for free? It isn't clear how this project benefits Wikipedia or what is has to do with the company's software. It isn't even clear why the company isn't able to browse Wikipedia on its own and identify appropriate articles for their project. —Largo Plazo (talk) 17:29, 22 December 2009 (UTC)

The company will provide the software and help recruit volunteers to transwiki articles, we would be translating articles from the English Wikipedia to the Swahili Wikipedia. The company of course can do this just in collaboration with the destination Wikipedia, but we can also help on our end. Tim Vickers (talk) 17:39, 22 December 2009 (UTC)

Article in French

I have a pdf article in French that I would like to use as a source for a dermatology-related article. Is there anyone that could help me translate it? ---kilbad (talk) 23:31, 25 January 2010 (UTC)

Please improve instructions at top of page

This page states "To request a translation of an English Wikipedia article into another language, click on a sidebar link to do so at the appropriate foreign-language Wikipedia." The statement is not helpful. First, the page may not exist at all in the foreigh-language wikipedia. How does one find a sidebar to an article that does not exist? Second, I examined in great detail the sidebars of multiple foreign-language wikipedias, and found absolutely no link relevant to translation. How does one click on a link that does not exist? Please improve this very confusing statement and/or the procedure to request translation. Thank you. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 71.165.239.118 (talk) 03:44, 9 March 2010 (UTC)

Translation for Mosque of Uqba from the featured article in french wikipedia

Grande mosquée de Kairouan (in french wikipedia) is an excellent featured article about an important monument (architectural masterpiece) and religious building (one of the oldest great mosques and the oldest in the muslim west). The english article Mosque of Uqba is referenced but very short and do not give enough details while the article in French (Grande mosquée de Kairouan) is full of details about the architecture and decoration of this huge monument. It would be very interesting to translate the featured french article. I can help in the architectural vocabulary. Cordially Quincy2010 (talk) 21:07, 21 March 2010 (UTC)

Wikipedia talk:Translation/Airmail

Not sure if the page at Wikipedia talk:Translation/Airmail is in the right place or what stage of development it is at. -- Alan Liefting (talk) - 18:51, 2 April 2010 (UTC)

Bill Vander Zalm, Dutch translation pls

Please see Talk:Bill_Vander_Zalm#.22the_Zalm.22; Vander Zalm is an extremely well-known Dutch Canadian, I was very surprised to see there's only German, French and Finnish versions of his page....Skookum1 (talk) 16:58, 13 April 2010 (UTC)

Medicine and molecular cellular biology Wikiprojects announce collaboration with Google.org

Announcement of the first stages of a project to peer-review, improve and translate medical and biology articles so that material can be transferred from the English Wikipedia to other Wikipedias that are written in languages used in developing world. Tim Vickers (talk) 17:54, 16 April 2010 (UTC)

Spanish-language news sources

Today I discovered these two Spanish-language sources for news about the environment.

• Últimas de bionero — bionero.org | IDEAS, DISCUSION Y CULTURA ECOLOGICA DESDE MEXICO

(This Spanish-language newspaper based in Mexico City specializes in environmental news.)

• HidrocarburosBolivia.com | bolivia, hidrocarburosbolivia, gas, ypfb, mapas, sitio, gobierno, hidrocarburos, campos, bloques, argentina, boletín, brasil, mundo, petróleo, bolivianos ("es:hidrocarburo" = "hydrocarbon"; "es:YPFB" = "es:Yacimientos Petrolíferos Fiscales Bolivianos" = "YPFB")

—Preceding unsigned comment added by Wavelength (talk • contribs) 01:04, 12 May 2010 (UTC)
[I forgot to sign my message, so I am adding an "unsigned" template to it. -- Wavelength (talk) 02:36, 12 May 2010 (UTC)]
I just found another one.

• Medioambientalista. Medio Ambiente, Naturaleza, Sostenibilidad (based in Spain)

-- Wavelength (talk) 03:23, 12 May 2010 (UTC)

References?

What about the references? Should we put the ones listed in the foreign article that we are translating from? or put no references or cite wikipedia itself as the reference or what? - ☩Damërung ☩. -- 06:42, 19 May 2010 (UTC)