Tell us about Spanish Wikipedia

This page belongs to the project Tell us about your Wikipedia.

Name of the Wikipedia

Wikipedia en Español

Questionnaire

Contributors

• Wikimedia Statistics can be difficult to interpret. What is your impression, how many steady contributors do you have?

  About 500 regulars es:Drini 21:32, 29 August 2008 (UTC)

• Are your contributors mostly native speakers?

  Yes. es:Drini 21:32, 29 August 2008 (UTC)

• Where do your contributors live (regions/country)?

  All over the world. es:Drini 21:32, 29 August 2008 (UTC)

  Spain and Central-South America. Emijrp 21:28, 12 December 2008 (UTC)

  There are also quite a few from the United States. And let's not forget Mexico as part of North America. ;) Sabbut 16:53, 6 September 2010 (UTC)

• How common is it that your contributors meet in real life?

  Not uncommon, wikigatherings happen regularly. es:Drini 21:32, 29 August 2008 (UTC)

  They are called "Wikiencuentros" (wiki meet ups). Emijrp 21:28, 12 December 2008 (UTC)

Other Wikipedias

• Do you have special contacts with another Wikipedias (maybe in related languages)?

  Yes, some America native languages and also some other languages spoken in Spain. es:Drini 21:32, 29 August 2008 (UTC)

• Do you translate a lot from other Wikipedias? Which ones?

  Not me but many people translate from enwiki. es:Drini 21:32, 29 August 2008 (UTC)

  Enwiki is the most popular one, but translations from Wikipedias in other Romance languages such as frwiki, cawiki and itwiki are also common. Sabbut 16:55, 6 September 2010 (UTC)

Organization and support

• Is there a Wikimedia chapter in your country? How does your language relate to it?

  Argentina has a chapter, other spanish speaking countries don't. es:Drini 21:32, 29 August 2008 (UTC)

• Are there work groups in other organizations about Wikipedia?

  Don't know. es:Drini 21:32, 29 August 2008 (UTC)

Your Wikipedia and the linguistic community

• Is there a language institution for your language, like an Academy, or a club of people interested in your language? Do you have contact with them?

  There's a regulatory Academy for language (but views wildly differ about it) but no direct contact with them. es:Drini 21:32, 29 August 2008 (UTC)

The official institution who normalizes spanish language in Spain and Latin America countries is the Real Academia Española with home in Madrid. It publishes since more than 100 years the Diccionario de la lengua española and more recently the Diccionario panhispánico de dudas. In the spanish Wikipedia we all try to follow its rules and suggests. Remolón 02:19, 04 February 2009 (UTC)

• Who (else) supports you?

  Nobody. es:Drini 21:32, 29 August 2008 (UTC)

• What does the public outreach for your edition look like? Do you have flyers, give lectures, trainings etc.?

  We're well known but no outreach. es:Drini 21:32, 29 August 2008 (UTC)

• Do you get feedback from readers?

  Yes, via talk pages. es:Drini 21:32, 29 August 2008 (UTC)

  We also have a w:es:Wikipedia:Libro_de_visitas where users, often newcomers, write their opinions about the project. --Javier Carro 05:34, 5 September 2008 (UTC)

• What other encyclopedias exist in your language?

  A fork from wikipedia, a Spanish grammar one, a conservative encyclopedia. es:Drini 21:32, 29 August 2008 (UTC)

  Well known Enciclopedia Libre. Emijrp 21:29, 12 December 2008 (UTC)

Content

• Does your edition concentrates on certain topics, like your region and language, or Latin Wikipedia on Roman history and Christianity?

  No. All topics. es:Drini 21:32, 29 August 2008 (UTC)

• Did your edition enjoy text donations, for example from older encyclopedias?

  Yes, from other gfdl wikis, from old encyclopedias. es:Drini 21:32, 29 August 2008 (UTC)

Language

• Is there a generally accepted norm about your language (spelling, dictionary, pronunciation)?

  In most cases yes, but there are certain points where no consensus exist. es:Drini 21:32, 29 August 2008 (UTC)

  We have the Manual of Style where certain norms are explained. On this page it is often used as a reference el manual ortográfico de la RAE corcerning orthography and the Diccionario Panhispánico de Dudas concerning common doubts in Spanish use.--Javier Carro 05:26, 5 September 2008 (UTC)

• How do you deal with different spellings, dialects etc. (like B.E. lift and A.E. elevator)?

  All of them allowed. es:Drini 21:32, 29 August 2008 (UTC)

  In the particular case of computing science terminology, where words differ much between Spain and Latinoamerica, a Wikiproyect was created to build consensus on the use of different words. --Javier Carro 05:26, 5 September 2008 (UTC)

  In the case of plant and animal names, there is the problem that the same words often refer to completely different species in Spain and Latin America. Hence we systematically use taxonomic names for the article titles of all articles about living things. Marcos 15:50, 23 September 2008 (UTC)

There are of course problems to decide which is the "correct" name for some concepts: Spanish is spoken in 20 countries and for more than 400 millions people with different dialects and educational nivels. In some cases there were a consensus in the way the concept most used or in more countries is the employed (with redirections from the other ones), but in other cases the word used in Spain is the employed. That is because more than 50% of the active contributors and administrators are from Spain. Remolón 02:33, 04 February 2009 (UTC)

See also

• Tell us about your Wikipedia

Links

• Main/Front page of your Wikipedia: http://es.wikipedia.org