[Imc-wales] PROPOSAL: promotion guidelines

[maqui]

Hello

catching up ....

On Friday, February 9, 2007, at 09:16  pm, Genny wrote:

> There was some discussion at the Wales meeting on Saturday about the 
> issue of posts in Welsh which may arrive without a translation, either 
> with just Wales ticked or with UK too.
>
> The discussion was around the availability of people to translate 
> every Welsh post and their inclination (or not!) to do so.  We said 
> that we would try and encourage people to post at least a summary in 
> English at time of publishing, and where possible this would be added 
> to posts without one, but there was a suggestion that it might become 
> a pain to translate/summarise every post in Welsh.  There would 
> definitely be a commitment to check each and every post to make sure 
> it meets the editorial guidelines, but is it imperative that every 
> post in Welsh should be translated?  Welsh is an "official" language 
> of the UK... and I can't imagine that we'd ever be able to offer the 
> same service in reverse.  I just mention this here for discussion as 
> we will have to decide on a policy at some point.

Then, On Sunday, February 11, 2007, at 06:11  pm, mish wrote:

> My understanding of maqui's comments is that posts from overseas 
> without
> translation are sometimes posted to the newswire.  It is fairly 
> standard
> practice to hide these.
>
> With the change to officially supporting a second language (Welsh/
> Cymraeg) then there is no question that posts in a supported language
> will be allowed to show.

Late as usual, but still, here I'll try to explain a bit better what i 
meant to say. But first, and in any case, just to say that I think that 
a discussion on any concrete proposal by imc-wales about this issue - 
whenever that kollective is ready to present one of course - would be 
the best way to come to a consensus on this ... which, in fact, i don't 
even see it as 'problematic'.

I think this discussion probably makes much more sense from a Welsh 
reality (or the reality of having a Wales IMC) than from the UK, and I 
mean the United Kollectives.

Welsh language is real in Wales. It is alive and used everyday, and 
therefore it obviously needs to be taken into account and represented 
in any Welsh imc. Whichever way the kollective in Wales decide to do 
that should (and I am sure it will) be accepted by the rest of the 
network. I would personally support any decision by imcistas in Wales 
to not only allow, but moreover encourage posts entirely written in 
Welsh language in the IMC-Wales website, and which don't include a 
translation or a summary in English. The same way as many posts in 
IMC-Barcelona are entirely in Català, in IMC-Euskal Herria in Euskera, 
or IMC-Galiza in Galego. These imcs - all physically located in the 
Spanish State - accept posts in Spanish language too, but their default 
middle columns (for example) are integrally in Català, Euskera and 
Galego.

But then when posting in IMC-Madrid, or IMC-Estrecho - also physically 
located within what is known as Spain - it wouldn't make any sense 
whatsoever to do it entirely in Catala, Euskera or Galego (which btw 
they are all 'official' languages too) as most of the 'audience' in 
these two imc's would not be able to understand a word of what it is 
said. So what would it be the point to publish something in an imc that 
no-one (or very few people) can understand?

Would it merely be about pointing out that a language other than the 
'dominant one' exists? To reclaim its presence, legitimacy and 
acceptance? Fair enough, but to me the main point of any imc newswire 
is to communicate to as wider an audience as possible, and if outside 
Wales English is the language the vast majority of people speaks, so be 
it. It is for this reason that I would prefer not to have posts in the 
UK wires entirely in Welsh without a translation or at least a summary 
in English.

In my opinion, to include a translation or a summary to a posting 
written in Welsh should not be seen as lessening its quality or 
reducing its importance (both of the language used and its content) but 
quite the opposite. To have posts originally written in Welsh appearing 
in the UK wire, and which thanks to a translation or summary can be 
understood by everyone (or almost everyone) living in this island, 
would not only reclaim the presence and value of an indigenous 
ancestral language, but also reflect the reality of Welsh society I 
guess. Having said that, I 'm actually not very clued up about the real 
use of Welsh in Wales, but the last time I was in a pub in a town in 
the north near Bangor called Portmadoc (i think that's the right 
spelling) everyone was talking in Welsh, and as we approached the bar 
our english mate told me something like "look you better order coz with 
my accent you never know" :-))

Anyway, just my five pence on this, and I guess that's why I commented 
in another mail that in the past I have hidden posts published entirely 
in languages other than English. I remember having even hid one posted 
in Català quite a while ago. I'm mentioning that one only coz that's is 
my mother tongue.

Cheers
maqui