Tech:Tag for language variations in phrasebooks
From Wikitravel Shared
Moved from en:Wikitravel:Feature requests by User:Evan
(Forked by Notty 01:34, Feb 9, 2004 (EST) so that this portion of the original comment just shows the portion appropriate to Feature requests. The other portion can be found in en:Wikitravel talk:Phrasebook Expedition)
"Because the same language can be used in multiple countries (for example, Spanish or Arabic), phrasebooks in Wikitravel will be separate articles from country, city or regional articles. Those articles can link to the appropriate phrasebook for local languages, and may also include small micro-phrasebooks for local deviations. For example, the article for Quebec would link to the French phrasebook, but might also include some variations for Quebecois French. "
In en:Wikitravel talk:Phrasebook Expedition, I discuss my opposition to micro-phrasebooks. It would be much better to use the computer's ability to filter content to achieve an improved printout.
It could be handled with an extension to Wiki code. A possible example for the Spanish phrasebook (with nonsense words):
; blahblah : <<Mexico|blehbleh>> <<Argentina|aoaoao>> <<Chile,Peru|bababa>> <<!|cecece>>
Default display would be:
- blahblah
- Mexico: blehbleh
Argentina: aoaoao
Chile, Peru: bababa
elsewhere: cecece
There would also be a link on the page for each country covered by the vocabulary. So, if you clicked the Venezuela link you would see:
- blahblah
- outside Mexico, Argentina, Chile, Peru: cecece
If you clicked on the Argentina link you would see:
- blahblah
- Argentina: aoaoao
If you find the localization markings unwieldly, you could just mark them with a warning symbol so people with printouts know they have to go back to the phrasebook if they spontaneously decide to go to another country.:
- blahblah
- ! aoaoao
Of course, any word or phase with no regional markings would show normally:
- blehbleh
- wakawaka
I don't know whether this would be easy to program. It would, however, be flexible and printer friendly, and a lot easier to use than splitting the vocabulary between a phrasebook and an article.
This concept could even extend to the destination pages. For instance, someone only interested in budget accomodations could hide moderate and expensive ones, saving paper.
Notty 02:19, Feb 6, 2004 (EST)
(End of forked comment. Evan's response below is pre-fork and is not to be evaluated by the fork above. Notty 01:34, Feb 9, 2004 (EST) )
- This is an interesting idea, but I'm not sure if it would apply for phrasebooks. If there's a small number of variations, they can be handled within the phrasebook or in a micro-phrasebook for the region or city. Quebecois French is like this; just a few variations on International French. I think American English and Brazilian Portuguese would also be handled. If there's a large number of variations, then we could have separate phrasebooks. --Evan 13:01, 6 Feb 2004 (EST)
- I am responding post-fork to your response to my pre-forked comment. You may well be right that my features request is overkill for phrasebooks. While my Spoken Spanish dictionary lists many regional variations, it is possible that the ones which would be listed in a phrase book would be few enough as to not make a programming change worthwhile. Notty 01:34, Feb 9, 2004 (EST)
