2025:Program/Language Perspective of Wikimedia Movement in Taiwan: The Challenge of Taiwanese Taigi and Taiwanese Mandarin
Session title: Language Perspective of Wikimedia Movement in Taiwan: The Challenge of Taiwanese Taigi and Taiwanese Mandarin
- Session type: Lecture
- Track: Diversity & Inclusion
- Language: en
đ„ Session recording: https://w.wiki/FQrn đ„
China's influence is not only in geopolitics but also in the Wikimedia Movement! Taiwanese Wikimedians are one of the forces behind Mandarin Wikipedia, even though it can easily convert different terms usage between Chinese Mandarin and Taiwanese Mandarin, but it is not possible to transcribe China's ideologies. We will explain how the zh conversion method works and its limitations. We will also introduce other Sinitic languages, like Taiwanese Taigi, which is shadowed by the strong Mandarin language. What is the possible way of promoting small languages like Taiwanese Taigi under the influence of Taiwanese Mandarin on Wikimedia projects?
Description
We want to explain how the zh conversion method works on Mandarin Wikipedia, and its limitations. For example, the Big Recall Movement Wikidata item was vandalism on Wikidata by a Chinese editor, changing from a Taiwan perspective to an aggressive China perspective. There are also Chinese-only concepts that only exist in China, not even in Taiwan or other Mandarin-speaking countries/areas like Hong Kong, Malaysia, and Singapore, which might find it hard to connect other languages' Wikipedia articles through Wikidata. For example, disambiguation of Chinese government agencies linked to both China's and Taiwan's agencies on Mandarin Wikipedia, which is never seen on other languages' versions of Wikipedia sites.
There is a diverse language scene in Taiwan. Sinitic languages are spoken in Taiwan, For example, Taiwanese Taigi, Taiwanese Hakka, and Bangoe. Languages belong to Taiwanese Formosa Languages: Amis, Seediq, and Sakizaya. These languages are all shadowed by the strong and prominent Taiwanese Mandarin, making it quite hard to promote these languages Wikimedia Project's site. There are even thoughts of directly contributing to the big Wikis, not to these small languages Wiki. The community organizers keep struggling and persuading people to contribute in their mother tongue
- How does your session relate to the event theme, Wikimania@20 â Inclusivity. Impact. Sustainability?
Mandarin is also a mirror important language in Southeast Asia. And Taiwanese Taigi is not only a language in Taiwan but also distributed in other Southeast Asia countries. As a member of the Sinitic language family, Taiwanese Taigi can be an example of a small language Wikipedia under the influence of strong and prominent Wikipedia like Mandarin Wikipedia. The proposal is quite fit for inclusivity and sustainability.
- What is the experience level needed for the audience for your session?
Everyone can participate in this session
Resources
Speakers
- dennis
- A Wikidata and OpenStreetMap contributor from Taiwan. Start contributing to Wikipedia on 2005, and start contributing to OpenStreetMap in 2010. He is one of the co-hosts of OpenStreetMap x Wikidata monthly meetup in Taipei. He is a regular attendee of Wikipedia Monthly Writing Camp in Taipei, assisting hosts to help solve other attendees' Wikipedia writing issues.