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Requests for new languages/Wikipedia Simple German

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Simple German Wikipedia

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See also the second (rejected), third (rejected), and fourth (rejected) requests.

submitted verification final decision
  This proposal has been closed as part of a reform of the request process.
This request has not necessarily been rejected, and new requests are welcome. This decision was taken by the language committee in accordance with the Language proposal policy.

The closing committee member provided the following comment:

This discussion was created before the implementation of the Language proposal policy, and it is incompatible with the policy. Please open a new proposal in the format this page has been converted to (see the instructions). Do not copy discussion wholesale, although you are free to link to it or summarise it (feel free to copy your own comments over). —{admin} Pathoschild 21:45, 6 December 2006 (UTC)
Proposal summary
Please read the handbook for requesters for help using this template correctly.
  • App. number of speakers: Over 110 Millions Natural language
  • Location(s) spoken: Germany, Austria, Liechtenstein, parts of Switzerland, Italy, Poland, Netherland, Belgium, Denmark, Luxembourg, Slovenia, Romania, France, - In Eastern Europe is it a Major foreign language, not to mention significant German populations abroad: South Africa, Namibia, Australia, United States, New Zealand.

Arguments in favour

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    • Support
      • --Yonghokim 18:08, 15 Apr 2005 (UTC) personally it would be great to pick up on german that I was learning as a side access to the Deutsch wikipedia. Millions around the world learn german as the prime european language to be learned, especially as the unification becomes a possibility.
      • As long as the name is sorted out, of course. James F. (talk) 18:55, 15 Apr 2005 (UTC)
      • As long as the name is sorted out, of course. --E2m 01:28, 16 Apr 2005 (UTC)
      • I would find this valuable as a German student. I could contribute to it and read it. My only concern lies with diluting efforts from the primary German Wikipedia. I think einfach.wikipedia.org is elegant and consistant. We won't experience namespace collisions because few languages will necessitate simple versions, and "simple" is a different word for each of the top wikis. Davidstrauss 22:19, 25 Apr 2005 (UTC)
        • Except for English and French, of course. Caesarion 13:31, 26 Apr 2005 (UTC)
          • also spanish. but then again, you can play around with synonyms - sencillo etc --Yonghokim 05:20, 28 Apr 2005 (UTC)
          • I was accounting for synonyms or terms of equal classification value (like "easy"). I'd advocate facile.wikipedia.org for French and sencillo.wikipedia.org for Spanish. We could make this work for enough languages. It's not like we need that many simple Wikipedias. I personally wouldn't advocate one for Spanish because it's already such a simple language with a relatively small vocabulary (relative to English). A simple Wikipedia for German would be nice because many grammatic complexity issues (for the purpose of reading) can be eased with restrictions on sentence ordering (i.e. not taking advantage of the sentence structure flexibility afforded by declension). I'm not familar enough with French to offer an informed opinion about the need for a simple French Wikipedia. Davidstrauss 01:07, 4 May 2005 (UTC)[reply]
      • I am intrested with a SIMPLE GERMAN wiki. I started a while ago and I want to learn more.--68.7.199.254 02:15, 4 May 2005 (UTC)[reply]
      • Yes, much needed, thank you. Roaringeighties 09:33, 24 April 2006 (UTC)[reply]
      • NEEDED Libarianofages 02:35, 27 April 2006 (UTC)[reply]
      • I´d also enjoy reading a simple German Wikipedia. (A german language as a second language learner) --Javier Carro 08:47, 4 May 2005 (UTC)[reply]
      • I was just thinking about something like this a few days ago. Then on the mailing list I find out there's an actual proposal for it. Too bad it'll probably get held up in red tape. Anthony DiPierro 12:25, 20 Jun 2005 (UTC)
      • Strong support Test-tools 08:22, 14 October 2005 (UTC)[reply]
      • Support. I don't think that Simple English has failed, just because it has not that much entries. Just keep working on it! Dinsdagskind 12:06, 22 January 2006 (UTC)[reply]
      • I think it would be extremely useful to the learner of German. The German language is hardly obscure, and has the second largest wikipedia. I think such a project, so long as 'twere handled properly, would be of great value. I support its creation. BryanAJParry
      • Support. 128.151.142.77 06:22, 1 March 2006 (UTC)[reply]
      • Support. There is a lack of good, simple German literature online. I would have loved a Simple German Wikipedia to read while I was learning German. If there are people interested in contributing to this wiki, then I say go for it. —Psychonaut 01:18, 5 April 2006 (UTC)[reply]
      • Support. I agree with Psychonaut, that there is a lack of simple German online. Personally, as a German student, this would offer a chance to read German without the constraints of difficult language. 24.154.248.236 21:02, 15 April 2006 (UTC)[reply]
      • Support. I need this worldwide german wiki, we can needed fair use for work same eng and many other WP. --217.88.189.152 23:48, 20 May 2006 (UTC)[reply]

Arguments against

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    • Oppose
      • Node ue 03:42, 10 May 2005 (UTC) I have already given an antijustification on Wikipedia-l[reply]
      • I would rather opt for creating a limited number of simplified articles (for difficult subjects) within the existing German Wikipedia, e. g. a simple [de:Astrophysik (einfach)] alongside the "regular" [de:Astrophysik] article. This could also work other langages, of course. Arbeo 12:45, 2 Jun 2005 (UTC)
      • WP is primarily a reference and not a language course. I don't see the need for "einfach" versions of articles on de.wp either; every article should have a simple introduction that can be understood by everyone, and we can go into more detail later on in the article. --Stw 22:20, 11 Jun 2005 (UTC)
      • I think the Simple English Wikipedia has failed. It was intended as a source for other Wikipedias, with texts that are easy to translate. I haven't yet seen an article anywhere that's based on a simple: article. Also, I have the feeling that important facts are left out in the simple: texts by people who are trying to avoid using complicated terms. And if such facts aren't left out, the texts aren't really easier to read than the normal English ones. --Head 21:07, 17 January 2006 (UTC)[reply]
      • I'm against the concept of simple:, and against einfach: as well. —Nightstallion (?) 09:18, 14 March 2006 (UTC)[reply]
      • There is no such language as Simple German or Einfaches Deutsch. Simple English has some codification (dictionaries etc.), but Simple German simply does not exist. Jörg Knappen 14:17, 15 March 2006 (UTC)[reply]
      • I don't like the idea of writing "simple" encyclopedias, sometimes, more complicated terms need to be used if it is to be a real encyclopedia. Prodego Talk 02:41, 27 April 2006 (UTC)[reply]
      • Against simple languages, what defines about a simple vocabulary over non-simple vocabulary.--Taichi - (あ！) 22:07, 29 April 2006 (UTC)[reply]
      • Polletfa 20:47, 2 May 2006 (UTC) (de) Obwohl ich Deutsch lerne und eine „Einfaches Deutsch“ Wikipedia vielleicht mir helfen würdet (aber Wikipedia ist kein Sprachkurse!), bin ich gegen diese Idee. Allgemein mage ich „Simple“ Sprachen nicht aber mindestens Simple English „existiert“. Ich meine, daß viele Leute probiert haben, es zu kodifizieren und es viele Webseite auch Internet darüber gibt. Das ist mehr oder weniger eine konstruierte Sprache. Über einfaches Deutsch, français facile oder andere "Simple" Sprache habe ich nie gehört! (en) Although I learn german and an "Einfaches Deutsch" wikipedia could maybe help me (but Wikipedia isn't a language course!), I'm totally against this idea. Generally I don't like "simple" languages but at least "simple english" does exist. I mean there are lots of people who tried to codify it and there are lots of website and so one. It's more or less an artificial language. But I never heard about einfaches Deutsch, français facile or other simple languages! (fr) Bien que j'apprenne l'allemand et qu'une Wikipedia einfaches Deutsch m'aiderait peut-être (mais Wikipédia n'est pas un cours de langue !), je suis totalement contre cette idée. En général je n'aime pas ces langages « simples » mais au moins dans le cas du simple english ça existe. Il y a des gens qui ont tenté de le codifier et on trouve pas mal de sites web. C'est d'une certaine manière une langue construite. Mais je n'ai jamais entendu parler de einfaches Deutsch, de français facile ou d'autres languages simples ! Polletfa 20:47, 2 May 2006 (UTC) PS (only in english this time!): I don't think that the number of native speakers is a good indication of the future success of such project. As a native french speaker, I will never contribute to a simple french wikipedia for at least two reasons: I like my language as it is and to contribute in a "simple anything" when you can the "standard anything" is probably not so easy! Polletfa 20:57, 2 May 2006 (UTC)[reply]
  • I don't see what the audience for this would be. If Simple English has any meaningful purpose, it's to help people in undeveloped countries without access to many books but who have a very basic knowledge of English. The situation with German is entirely different- there are no undeveloped countries where some German pidgin is a significant part of the culture. If anything, French would be the language other than English most suited for a Simple edition. Still, we need to define a much clearer direction for Simple English if we're to get anywhere.--Pharos 09:01, 30 June 2006 (UTC)[reply]

General discussion

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  • Comments
    • I want to start a Wikipedia similar to "Simple English" but in German; the terms a generally the Same (For kids, teenagers, students, teachers and translators). The German wikipedia is the second largest after the English so it should be easy to find people to help.
    • We should have a standard form for simple language Wikipedias; currently Simple English is at "simple". Perhaps "simple.en", and "einfach.de"? James F. (talk) 18:55, 15 Apr 2005 (UTC)
    • If we have a list of simple words for einfach.wp, I would be willing to fill the pt.wikt with them. --E2m 02:12, 16 Apr 2005 (UTC)
      • You should do it on the en.wikt as well. I don't know much Portuguese (except it's related to Spanish.) Scott Gall 08:36, 17 Apr 2005 (UTC)
    • I don't think simple.en was a great success, so I'm skeptic about a simple.de project - and there are more English-speaking persons than German-speaking. What about a Wikijunior project? Wikijunior also has to use a simple language, and it I think it would be a greater success. --Thomas G. Graf 12:53, 17 Apr 2005 (UTC)
      • You're the one who likened Parseltongue to nonsense. But on a more relevant tangent, the Simple WPs are for people from overseas who are learning to speak those languages, but Wikijunior is for small children. NazismIsntCool 01:31, 8 May 2005 (UTC)[reply]
    • Other
      • Angela expressed reservations on Wikipedia-l, although not explicitly opposing it
      • I know what you guys should do. Close down Simple and move its content to a Simple: namespace. Create simple namespaces in the other wikis. Also, it is possible do simple Japanese pages as well, at 2 levels: one with kana but no kanji (or whatever they're called) and one in Romaji (or Romanji?) NazismIsntCool 04:53, 11 May 2005 (UTC)[reply]

Alternative to "simple" language wiki

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They might be an other way to meet some of the objectives of a "simple" language wiki, that would have good reason to spread in several language. That would be a wikipedia aimed, designed for children. That could be of course used as well by people whom it isn't the mother language, people with learning disablility or just adults that just want a simple and quick overview on a subject if the wikipédia article is long and hard.

The idea is promising if it gives children or teenagers the opportunity to edit and involve in building it. I thought that it should be a new wikimedia project, and wanted to propose it. It was allready proposed, so I did edit both the discussion and the project page here : wikikids and Talk:wikikids. (it is on the proposal page here : Proposals_for_new_projects#Wikikids). It has even been done in german and dutch, with pretty good sucess (see the links on the pages.) Your comments would be appreciated. Astirmays 20:54, 16 October 2006 (UTC)[reply]

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