Re:Sweden just claimed the world’s second-largest Wikipedia
by _delirium on Monday August 04, 2014 @11:58AM
(#8132350)
> Because most people can't read English.
That's a good argument for some languages, but for Swedish in particular it's less strong, because the number of people who can read Swedish but not read English is fairly small, and rapidly declining. That doesn't mean there's no point to a Swedish Wikipedia, but whatever point there is can't really be because Swedes are unable to read English.
That's also true of Danish, which is one reason I believe the Danish Wikipedia has been languishing. There are many Danish people who are Wikipedians, but many of them do more English editing than Danish editing. The Swedish Wikipedia seems to be more active in comparison. It would be interesting to understand why; is it just the population difference (9.5m vs. 5.5m)?
That's a good argument for some languages, but for Swedish in particular it's less strong, because the number of people who can read Swedish but not read English is fairly small, and rapidly declining. That doesn't mean there's no point to a Swedish Wikipedia, but whatever point there is can't really be because Swedes are unable to read English.
That's also true of Danish, which is one reason I believe the Danish Wikipedia has been languishing. There are many Danish people who are Wikipedians, but many of them do more English editing than Danish editing. The Swedish Wikipedia seems to be more active in comparison. It would be interesting to understand why; is it just the population difference (9.5m vs. 5.5m)?