Tell us about Tajik Wikipedia

This page belongs to the project Tell us about your Wikipedia.

Tajik Wikipedia

Earlier Tajik Wikipedia was considered as the largest Wikipedia among -stan countries in Central Asia and when it reached 68,780 articles. It is still considered as one of the few largest sites in Tajik language available on the Internet.

By January 26, 2014, Tajik Wikipedia has reached 29,268 articles. And now Tajik Wikipedia has reached

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Questionnaire

The questions will be filled out by: tg:User:Ibrahim, tg:User:Francis Tyers, tg:Soroush83, <your name here>

Contributors

• Wikimedia Statistics can be difficult to interpret. What is your impression, how many steady contributors do you have?

Between 1 and 5.

• Are your contributors mostly native speakers?

Many contributors are native speakers, some are speakers of Iranian Persian, and some are non-native speakers, or people with little grasp of the language. These latter mostly help with formatting.

There are contributors from Persian Wikipedia who are interested to contribute to Tajik Wikipedia but they are unable to use the Cyrillic alphabet.

• Where do your contributors live (regions/country)?

Tajikistan, Iran, Uzbekistan, Russia, and other countries.

It is expected that there will be contributors from Afghanistan in future (Afghanistan hasn't got many internet users yet).

• How common is it that your contributors meet in real life?

Rarely

Ibrahim Rustamov attended Wikimania in 2007.

Other Wikipedias

• Do you have special contacts with another Wikipedias (maybe in related languages)?

Not really, we have some contact with some users from the (Afghan and Iranian) Persian Wikipedia, but often Tajik is derogatively considered a "just a dialect" by Iranian users.

• Do you translate a lot from other Wikipedias? Which ones?

When translating, normally from English, Russian and Persian (Afghan and Iranian).

Organisation and support

• Is there a Wikimedia chapter in your country? How does your language relate to it?

There is no Wikimedia chapter in Tajikistan.

• Are there work groups in other organisations about Wikipedia?

Now two mobile operators are providing free access to Wikipedia Zero, Babilon Mobile and Tcell.

Your Wikipedia and the linguistic community

• Is there a language institution for your language, like an Academy, or a club of people interested in your language? Do you have contact with them?

There is a Terminology Committee, see www.termcom.tj

• Who (else) supports you?

Thanks to Global Connections and Exchange Program which is coordinated by Relief International Schools Online many schools where Internet Learning Centers were opened helped Tajik Wikipedia to grow. Ibrahim Rustamov who works at IREX Tajikistan sometimes organizes presentations and small workshops for alumni and university students introducing Wikipedia and how to contribute it.

There is a group of Facebook with more than 600 members who discuss articles and suggests topics: https://www.facebook.com/groups/156098958985/

Our contributors

• What does the public outreach for your edition look like? Do you have flyers, give lectures, trainings etc.?

In ICT related conferences, Ibrahim Rustamov presented several times about the status of the Tajik Wikipedia and how to contribute to it to ICT4D experts, researchers, scholars, librarians and university students.

• Do you get feedback from readers?

We receive feedback on Facebook Tajik Wikipedia Group and Tajik Wikipedia Facebook Page

We have been mentioned in prominent news publications, e.g. en:RFE/RL (see Сомонаҳои интернетии козиб and Тоҷикон дар Википедия), Millat (Nation) Вики вики, бишитобед, дер намонед - 28 January 2012, RFERL Tajik Service: Чаро Википедияи тоҷикӣ аз дигарон ақиб мондааст? 25 February 2013

• What other encyclopaedias exist in your language?

Tajik Soviet Encyclopaedia (Энсиклопедияи советии тоҷик)

Content

• Does your edition concentrates on certain topics, like your region and language, or Latin Wikipedia on Roman history and Christianity?

Many articles have to do with Tajikistan, especially literature, geography, biology and zoology

Most of the entries haven't got enough description for a prestigious encyclopedia but we haven't had a comparison with other encyclopedias in Tajik yet.

Dictation and grammar errors can be found in the articles. It must be because:

• Education of Tajik in Tajikistan
• Some contributors are not native speakers or not living in Tajikistan.
• Not having Tajik standard keyboard

• Did your edition enjoy text donations, for example from older encyclopaedias?

No, the Tajik Soviet Encyclopaedia is still in copyright. Although we are looking forward to it becoming public domain at some point!

Language

• Is there a generally accepted norm about your language (spelling, dictionary, pronunciation)?

Yes, there is an authoritative dictionary, but it was published in the 1960s.

• How do you deal with different spellings, dialects etc. (like B.E. lift and A.E. elevator)?

There is a policy adopted from the English Wikipedia. Usually, different varieties are put in lead (see e.g. tg:Деҳа and tg:Энсиклопедия)

We try to include all varieties in common use.

See also

• Tell us about your Wikipedia

Links

• Main/Front page of your Wikipedia: http://tg.wikipedia.org