>:[

[dhampyresa]

So I just found out that some US jerkass vandalised the Scots language version of Wikipedia by writing articles in English with a phonetic accent which WOW FUCK YOU.

As a speaker of a minority language (brezhoneg) I am kind of righteously mad? It's hard enough finding resources about/in small languages without people deliberately pissing in the pot, ffs.

Thankfully brezhoneg looks nothing like French, so whenever I visit the bzh wiki in peace, but that doesn't help Scots speakers, does it?

(Yes. I sometimes visit the brezhoneg wiki. I am trying to improve my literacy, ok.)

(Most recently I was looking at the page for Kartada (Carthage), because I was looking for thie bit of info "Dont a ra hec'h anv eus ar Fenikianeg Qart-ḥadašt (diskrivadenn vrezhonekaet: Kart C'hadacht)" ie "Its name comes from the Phoenician Qart-ḥadašt (transliterated in breton as Kart C'hadacht)" (bolding mine). Just needed to make sure I was pronouncing it right in my head. Which I was, having assumed the ḥ to be be equal to c'h on absolutely no basis at all. /end tangent)

Comments

[rydra_wong]

FWIW, the Scots Wikipedia clusterfuck does not seem to have been malicious, "just" the result of extreme ignorance and teenagerhood -- kid who didn't understand that running some words through an online English-Scots dictionary does not qualify as "translation", and refused to listen when actual speakers started calling him on things.

It's still a shitshow but does not seem to have been deliberate vandalism.

https://vampireapologist.tumblr.com/post/627559173225431040/yall-i-reblogged-that-post-with-additional

Scots language experts have put out a call for actual Scots speakers to help unfuck the Wikipedia, and seem on for using it as an opportunity to build interest in the actual language:

https://twitter.com/DrMDempster/status/1298702920221896704
https://www.facebook.com/groups/357351445642702/?ref=share

[dhampyresa]

refused to listen when actual speakers started calling him on things.
That's when it tips over into malice, for me.

I am glad Scots speakers have done something good with this!

[sovay]

So I just found out that some US jerkass vandalised the Scots language version of Wikipedia by writing articles in English with a phonetic accent which WOW FUCK YOU.

What.

Which I was, having assumed the ḥ to be be equal to c'h on absolutely no basis at all.

Thank you for that piece of information.

[dhampyresa]

So I just found out that some US jerkass vandalised the Scots language version of Wikipedia by writing articles in English with a phonetic accent which WOW FUCK YOU.

What.

Yup

Thank you for that piece of information.
Use this knowledge wisely! ;)

[angelofthenorth]

Wow i didn't realise you spoke brezhoneg/Llydaweg!

I really need to get back to daily posting in Welsh. It helped no end.

Yeah the Scots thing is seriously fucked up

[dhampyresa]

Speak is a big word for it -- I can understand it much better than I speak it but I can speak it a bit. I am definitely making efforts to get better at it, though!

I really need to get back to daily posting in Welsh. It helped no end.
That sounds like such a good idea!

Yeah the Scots thing is seriously fucked up
Right? Like. WOW.

[schneefink]

Yeah, the Scots wikipedia thing sucks (even if it wasn't out of malice, it's still so stupid.) Hopefully they can at least build on it. Depending on how bad it was, editing pages might be easier than creating them.

I didn't know you speak brezhoneg! Are you a native speaker or did you learn it in school/later?

[dhampyresa]

At some point incompetence becomes indistinguishable from malice.

I believe the English term is heritage speaker? It was my maternal grandparents native language but I am not (yet!) fluent in it.

[dolorosa_12]

The Scots Wikipedia thing has been doing the rounds of the various academic Celtic Studies Facebook groups of which I'm a member for the past couple of weeks — it's absolutely enraging.

However, as a result of being a member of all these groups, I did find out some good news: a Scottish academic, himself a native speaker of Scots, is organising a massive Wiki editathon by people literate in Scots. They are going to keep the links and underlying architecture of the pages created by this idiot American teenager, and rewrite the text.

Scottish academics have a strong presence in terms of organising Wiki editathons — I remember hearing about an undergraduate course at Edinburgh University which had a coursework component requiring students to create Wikipedia pages devoted to notable women academics/students in the university's history, as part of a push to increase the number of Wikipedia pages about women. (In this case these were English-language, I just thought it was an interesting parallel.)

[dhampyresa]

it's absolutely enraging
I can only imagine how furious your colleagues (rightfully!) are.

a Scottish academic, himself a native speaker of Scots, is organising a massive Wiki editathon by people literate in Scots
Such excellent news! Snatch victory from the jaws of defeat!