Wikipedia talk:Wikipedia Signpost/2015-12-16/In the media

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Great quote from Giles Coren. It would be interesting to see more of a discussion about the dynamic between knowledge and education and what Wikipedia can do to bridge the gap in the future. Knowledge without education is just data, which is useless. Viriditas (talk) 20:34, 19 December 2015 (UTC)[reply]
And even a greater quote from Chinese .translation of Wales. I say it was not a distortion, but rather a Freudian slip :-) - üser:Altenmann >t 20:43, 19 December 2015 (UTC)[reply]
- Kazakh premier Karim Massimov, who attended the conference in China, also makes an appearance in this ongoing discussion on Jimmy Wales' talk page. This goes back to the jaw-dropping episode where Wales awarded the inaugural "Wikipedian of the Year" award to the functionary running Wikibilim's Kazakh Wikipedia project, which, "under the auspices of the Government of Kazakhstan and with the support of Prime Minister Karim Massimov", completely overhauled the Kazakh Wikipedia and imported the state-published Kazakh National Encyclopedia's content into it. Wales said at Wikimania 2012 that he would go to Kazakhstan, a country labouring under one of the most repressive dictatorships in the world, to "give the award in the presence of the President and Prime Minister" ( https://en.wikinews.orgview_image.php?q=Wikipedia_talk:Wikipedia_Signpost/2015-12-16/In_the_media&sq=&lang=&file=File:Wikimania2012-Opening2.ogg time code 23:45 onward). The present discussion was sparked by Kazakhstan's efforts to replicate China's Great Firewall, as discussed in the New York Times. Andreas JN 466 21:36, 19 December 2015 (UTC)[reply]
Regarding Jimmy Wales in China. Result as expected, but is boycot the answer? I can not see that much has come out of various boycots over the years. So I don't support shaming of people for going this or that place, the important thing is that they support freedom of speech, as Jimmy Wales clearly do. Ulflarsen (talk) 22:00, 19 December 2015 (UTC)[reply]

Jimbo even going to the conference is naivete and delusion in the extreme. Nothing will change, with or without Jimbo. He just let himself be exploited by the Chinese government for their own ends.—azuki (talk · contribs · email) 23:23, 19 December 2015 (UTC) (edited 23:23, 19 December 2015 (UTC)[reply]

Please remember that the translation was made on-site by a simultaneous translator while Jimbo was speaking, not after the conference. In the official video I have cited in the article, the simultaneous interpreter clearly stuck for a moment thinking how to translate the the comment. To AGF, I'd say that the translator may have missed what Jimbo said and attempted to deduce his meaning from what she had heard. By the way, feel free to edit my reference if it doesn't meet Signpost's house style. Zhaofeng Li [talk ♦ contribs] 05:16, 20 December 2015 (UTC)[reply]
- Thank you very much for finding the video and adding the reference, Zhaofeng Li. Andreas JN 466 09:43, 20 December 2015 (UTC)[reply]
  - @Jayen466: Now the headline is kind of debatable, as apparently the translation has been wrong right from the beginning. Either it was a honest mistake (possibly under the influence of a Freudian slip), or it was intended (i.e. the interpreter may be "quite experienced" ). But anyway, it wasn't "edited for the Internet". Perhaps the headline and the article should be changed to reflect this? Zhaofeng Li [talk ♦ contribs] 14:33, 20 December 2015 (UTC)[reply]
    - Zhaofeng Li, does the written version on the internet, as shown in the WSJ article, exactly follow the conference interpreter's version? Andreas JN 466 14:43, 20 December 2015 (UTC)[reply]
      - @Jayen466: Yes, the translated version on WSJ matches the interpreter's one. However, this does not rule out the possibility of the government editing both the video and the transcript (i.e. asking the interpreter to record again after the conference), if we seriously need to assume bad faith. I have not watched the live stream, but such allegation is unfounded, at least for now. Zhaofeng Li [talk ♦ contribs] 15:03, 20 December 2015 (UTC)[reply]
        Thanks, Zhaofeng Li. I've changed the headline to "edited for public consumption". Andreas JN 466 15:16, 20 December 2015 (UTC)[reply]
@Jayen466: Thank you for making the change. However, I still think the current headline implies that the translation has been changed ("edited") since the conference was over, which is not true (or at least unproven). Maybe something like Wales' comments on censorship in China mistranslated is more neutral? Additionally, the body content may also need editing to be reflect this. Zhaofeng Li [talk ♦ contribs] 15:26, 20 December 2015 (UTC)[reply]
- "Editing" is also used to describe what an interpreter does when they are not relaying all of what the speaker said, so I think the word is okay here. Andreas JN 466 00:49, 21 December 2015 (UTC)[reply]