Requests for new languages/Wikipedia Toba Batak

submitted	verification	final decision

	This proposal has been approved. The Board of Trustees and language committee have deemed that there is sufficient grounds and community to create the new language project. A committee member provided the following comment: Approved by the language committee, awaiting creation: phab:T350320 Jon Harald Søby (talk) 23:58, 1 November 2023 (UTC)[reply]

The community needs to develop an active test project; it must remain active until approval (automated statistics, recent changes). It is generally considered active if the analysis lists at least three active, not-grayed-out editors listed in the sections for the previous few months.
The community needs to complete required MediaWiki interface translations in that language (about localization, translatewiki, check completion).
The community needs to discuss and complete the settings table below:

What	Value	Example / Explanation

Proposal
Language code	bbc (SIL, Glottolog)	A valid ISO 639-1 or 639-3 language code, like "fr", "de", "nso", ...
Language name	Toba Batak	Language name in English
Language name	ᯅᯖᯂ᯲ ᯖᯬᯅ / Batak Toba	Language name in your language. This will appear in the language list on Special:Preferences, in the interwiki sidebar on other wikis, ...
Language Wikidata item	Q33017 - item has currently the following values: English label: Toba Batak native label (P1705): Hata Batak instance of (P31)/subclass of (P279): natural language, modern language / Batak Wikimedia language code (P424): bbc writing system (P282): Batak script number of speakers, writers, or signers (P1098): 2,000,000	Item about the language at Wikidata. It would normally include the Wikimedia language code, name of the language, etc. Please complete at Wikidata if needed.
Directionality	LTR	Is the language written from left to right (LTR) or from right to left (RTL)?
Links		Links to previous requests, or references to external websites or documents.
Site URL	bbc.wikipedia.org	langcode.wikiproject.org

Settings
Project name	Wikipedia	"Wikipedia" in your language
Project namespace	Wikipedia	usually the same as the project name
Project talk namespace	Parhataon ni Wikipedia	"Wikipedia talk" (the discussion namespace of the project namespace)
Enable uploads	no	Default is "no". Preferably, files should be uploaded to Commons. If you want, you can enable local file uploading, either by any user ("yes") or by administrators only ("admin"). Notes: (1) This setting can be changed afterwards. The setting can only be "yes" or "admin" at approval if the test creates an Exemption Doctrine Policy (EDP) first. (2) Files on Commons can be used on all Wikis. (3) Uploading fair-use images is not allowed on Commons (more info). (4) Localisation to your language may be insufficient on Commons.
Optional settings
Project logo		This needs to be an SVG image (instructions for logo creation).
Default project timezone	Asia/Jakarta	"Continent/City", e.g. "Europe/Brussels" or "America/Mexico City" (see list of valid timezones)
Additional namespaces		For example, a Wikisource would need "Page", "Page talk", "Index", "Index talk", "Author", "Author talk".
Additional settings		Anything else that should be set
Once settings are finalized, a committee member will submit a Phabricator task requesting creation of the wiki. (This will include everything automatically, except the additional namespaces/settings.) After the task is created, it should be linked to in a comment under "final decision" above.

Proposal

Toba Batak (Hata Batak Toba) is an Austronesian language which is spoken by the Toba Batak people. It is a part of the Batakic languages. That language used to be written in Surat Batak, but nowadays it is written in the Latin alphabet.

The native land of the Toba Batak speakers is located in North Sumatra, Indonesia, especially regencies surrounding Lake Toba and Samosir Island such as North Tapanuli, Toba, Samosir and Humbang Hasundutan. The Toba Batak speakers can also be found in other areas of North Sumatra such as Medan, Dairi, Simalungun, and Pematang Siantar, and other areas of Indonesia such as Riau, Riau Islands, Jakarta, and West Java.
The Toba Batak language is a part of the Toba Batak culture. The existence of Wikipedia Batak Toba is important for preserving the Toba Batak language and also spreading knowledge about Toba Batak, Indonesia and the universe for the Toba Batak people in their own language.

Boti ma
Mauliate godang

Discussion

Arguments in favor

のここり ♫ 15:44, 4 September 2020 (UTC)[reply]
Wirjadisastra (talk) 13:53, 1 September 2020 (UTC)[reply]
Herryz (talk) 14:30, 1 September 2020 (UTC)[reply]
A Cat 🐈 (talk) 04:44, 2 September 2020 (UTC)[reply]
Luh Gede Krismayanti (talk) 12:48, 2 September 2020 (UTC)[reply]
Pinerineks (talk) 04:51, 2 September 2020 (UTC)[reply]
27christian11 (talk) 04:51, 2 September 2020 (UTC)[reply]
The Bataknese is a large and important ethnic from North Sumatra. It has a long cultural heritage and has left a written inscription since 12th CE (id:Prasasti Batugana I). XoXo (talk) 05:06, 2 September 2020 (UTC)[reply]
Support Wikipedia Toba Batak or Batak Toba? Otherwise, loved to see this wiki created. Joseagush (talk) 05:08, 2 September 2020 (UTC)[reply]

English: Toba Batak; local name: Batak Toba. Wirjadisastra (talk) 05:24, 2 September 2020 (UTC)[reply]

Symphonium264 (talk) 05:15, 2 September 2020 (UTC)[reply]
Support Olo! Au galang ni Wikipedia Toba Batakkon! Jeromi Mikhael (talk) 05:20, 2 September 2020 (UTC)[reply]
Support huge support. Really needed. The Bataknese is a hugely important ethnic in Indonesia. We're leaving out a huge amount without this inclusion. Xn00bit (talk) 06:31, 2 September 2020 (UTC)[reply]
Rano support a new edition of Wikipedia, as one of the moves to preserve the language and to 'free knowledge for one and all'! --Rano (talk) 06:42, 2 September 2020 (UTC)[reply]
Auhon! Blue Sonic (talk) 07:03, 2 September 2020 (UTC)[reply]
Serigalakampus (talk) 12:11, 2 September 2020 (UTC)[reply]
Batak Toba is one of the growing Indonesian languages community with great potential. I have seen active participation by its native speakers and considerable institutional support from Wikimedia Indonesia (e.g. social media posts and engagement in Toba language). Given time, it would be a valuable addition for the Wikimedia movement in Indonesia. I am also wondering whether the community would explore the use of some degree of Batak script, which is one of the oldest surviving writing system in Indonesia. dwf² (runding) 13:31, 2 September 2020 (UTC)[reply]
I'm so sure this would helps to documents the language digitally and improves the knowledge of those who is using this language. This Wikipedia language should be approved. Its large community can grow articles in this language rapidly. CyberTroopers (talk) 16:53, 4 September 2020 (UTC)[reply]
Support — Labdajiwa (talk) 06:14, 6 September 2020 (UTC)[reply]
Support I'm support this language. Because it is an language in Indonesia and you know Indonesia are the 2nd of the largest country by language in the world after Papua New Guinea and the 4th largest country by population and the biggest country from culture Semuel Tahun (talk)
Support as a major language in Indonesia, it's about time that Batak Toba has its own Wikipedia. Danu Widjajanto (talk) 13:05, 5 December 2020 (UTC)[reply]
Support -- Si Gam (talk) 13:30, 9 December 2020 (UTC)[reply]
Support I know some of them and they are really committed. Slaia (talk) 07:44, 9 March 2021 (UTC)[reply]
Support--ჯეო (talk) 12:22, 30 July 2021 (UTC)[reply]
Support 𝓘𝓻𝓴𝓱𝓪𝓶𝒯𝒶𝓁𝓀 :) 05:36, 3 August 2021 (UTC)[reply]
Support It is one of the major languages in Indonesia, the Batak people make up 3% of the population in Indonesia, and the language itself is widely spoken among the older, and younger generations, I support the creation of Wikipedia Batak Toba. --ProudBatak (talk) 06:52, 19 November 2021 (UTC)[reply]
Support --𝑇𝑚𝑣 (𝑡𝑎𝑙𝑘) 11:52, 26 November 2021 (UTC)[reply]

Arguments against

Other discussions

I'm always for a new viable Wikipedia, but I'm always uncomfortable when a bunch of supports pop up on a request for a new Wikipedia. It does not need a bunch of people saying support, it needs a lot of people working in the Incubator over a period of time, and then working on the Wikipedia once it gets moved out of the Incubator. (In specific, not that I know it to be true in this case, it needs a lot of people who know the language, not who want to support the language.) Go. Build.--Prosfilaes (talk) 20:20, 8 September 2020 (UTC)[reply]

@Prosfilaes Well, you can't just expect everyone to build despite having millions of speakers that know the language, not everyone has free time to contribute over time or even has access to internet. Take a look at Indonesian incubator projects such as Wikivoyage Indonesian or Wikinews Indonesian; despite having roughly 200 million people who know the language, they are still stuck in incubator for like a decade long. Veracious (talk) 02:59, 11 October 2023 (UTC)[reply]

That doesn't matter. Again, "it needs a lot of people working in the Incubator over a period of time, and then working on the Wikipedia once it gets moved out of the Incubator." There can be hundreds of millions of people who speak the language, and it doesn't matter if there's nobody who wants to work on the project.--Prosfilaes (talk) 18:52, 11 October 2023 (UTC)[reply]

It seems that the approval is considering: [1]. --Liuxinyu970226 (talk) 11:00, 8 March 2021 (UTC)[reply]