Talk:Languages
From UniLang Wiki
geoff: We now have a rather long list of languages, but most are just names, with no pages to them, or some contain a main page but basically no additional information. Maybe we could add some additional information to this list, reflecting quantity/quality of the resources this language has. We could for example rate the resources from 0-5, e.g. by stars, so it might look something like this:
It wouldn't have to be very strict, just a rough estimate. What do you think of this idea, would it be useful? Or maybe a better way of presenting it? People add a new language name to the list without adding resources, which basically just distracts from the pages that actually have information. We could also create an alternative listing page, which is ordered by the number of sub-pages instead of alphabetically.
Saaropean: What about just putting the number of non-empty sub-pages in brackets?
geoff: That is a nice idea. But... do you feel like counting them? And at some level it might not be clear anymore if the page belongs to a certain language, or is more general.
Ekalin: To say the truth, I don't really like that "xxx introduction" thing... I'd rather have the general information about each language in the top of it's page, followed then by appropriate links... What do you think?
Saaropean: Good idea. And I would limit the amount of information in that introduction. But I'm not sure what should be there...
geoff: Well, I originally started the extra introduction page to give a short overview of the language, but also some place where we could write about the history of the language, or mention similar languages, basically like the wikipedia entries. And by not using too much text on the main page all the vital links will fit onto one screen, without the need for scrolling. On the other hand by cleverly embedding the links into the text might make the main page look nicer, but maybe also less organised. Also the introduction page can be made nice and long then, whereas text on the main page should be kept concise. How about testing it with one language first? How about with Greek, as you are already working on that, Ekalin. Should we start an extra page on history and evolution of the language, or should we leave that to wikipedia and concentrate more on langauge learning pages?
Ekalin: Geoff's idea is good. In the main page, we can put some basic information: classification in the language tree, number of speakers, countries where spoken/official, and perhaps a few sentences describing some relevant things (which varies). If possible, in a standard form. When appropriate, a separate page describes history and other things.
Psi-Lord: I do like the idea of having a more ‘standard’ form for some pages myself.
Proycon: Can I get some stars for Arabic, Chinese and Spanish please? :)
Of course, do you know how to edit the Languages page? --Geoff 19:13, 6 Feb 2004 (EST)
Proycon: Of course, but you and Saar can judge it better :)
I am not sure where to put this link (I removed it from the languages page):
http://language.bin.org/FXM/ or his newer version http://how-to-learn-any-language.com/ - General website on learning a language.
The languages page was conceived as a page for linking to pages that hold wiki material about those languages. Feel free to discuss this approach.
--Geoff 06:40, 16 Dec 2004 (UTC)
