Hi Markus, it is way more complicated than that unfortunately. For example, Schwarzwald in Latvian (which uses Latin) is not Schwarzwald, but Švarcvalde, and in Turkish it is Kara Orman.
We have a bot request on Wikidata stalled for exactly this reason, https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Wikidata:Requests_for_permissions/Bot/AmpersandBot_2 Cheers Yaroslav On Tue, Mar 27, 2018 at 8:33 PM, Markus Bärlocher < markus.baerloc...@lau-net.de> wrote: > Hi Amir, > > You are right: > We should have simple tools for for both - Wikidata and OSM - to share > the infomations together and to merge it :-) > > - - - - > > But I think it is not a good idea to "translate" geographical names. > > *A name is a name* > > Example: > > "Schwarzwald" (a big area of forest in Germany) > should keep his name in each language. > > Of course it is very helpful to read a name in my writing system! > I can't read Chinese. > And most Chinese can't read nor Arabic nor Latin. > > In my opinion it is very wrong to separate parts of the word, and to > translate each part (eg. schwarz=black and wood=wald) and to put it > together (Blackforest). > > Most "translations" in Wikipedia and OSM are like this :-( > > I think we should stop such stupid work! > > - - - - > > What we need: > Specific charts for each *writing system*. > > If you speak English (or another language with Latin letters) > all names in countries which use Latin letters are written with no changes, > and all names in countries which use another writing system (Arabic > Chinese, ...) are written in two writing systems: > 1. original (so people there can /read/ it when you point on a name) > 2. Latin (so you can /speak/ it and local people can understand you) > > If you speak Yiddish (or another language with Hebrew letters) > all names in countries which use Hebrew letters are written with no > changes, > and all names in countries which use another writing system (Arabic > Chinese, Latin, ...) are written in two writing systems: > 1. original (so local people can /read/ it when you point on a name) > 2. Hebrew (so you can /speak/ it and local people can understand you) > > Ad 2.: this is a transformation like a "phonetic" script (broad > transcription), or something like transcription or transliteration. > (but /never/ a translation) > > Best regards, > Markus > > PS: Exception: > in bilingual locations we should use both languages plus a > transformation in your writing system. > > > > *** Before I begin: I've never been a major OpenStreetMap contributor, > > so forgive me if I misunderstand something basic about it. *** > > > > Lately, some work has been done on improving the integration of > > OpenStreetMap (OSM) and Wikimedia projects, in the Kartographer > extension. > > > > In particular, I'm curious about this task: > > https://phabricator.wikimedia.org/T112948 > > > > It's about showing place names in the wiki language. It may get resolved > > soon (yay!!) > > > > But it raises an important question: What happens if the place name was > > not translated into the wiki language? As a not-so-extreme example, what > > happens if a place name is only available in the OSM database in > > Chinese? Unfortunately, it will be not very useful to readers of the > > English Wikipedia. > > > > The desirable solution is to give Wikipedia editors who know the > > relevant languages an easy way to translate the labels. > > > > Reading > > https://wiki.openstreetmap.org/wiki/Translation#OpenStreetMap_website_ > interface > > , I see that there is no *easy* way to do it on the OpenStreetMap side. > > To add a translation of a place name, you need to: > > * find it on the map > > * edit it > > * type "name:LANGUAGE_CODE" in the properties list (for example > > "name:ru" for Russian) > > * write the name > > * save > > * wait for it to get published (I'm not sure how long does it take; > > maybe it's instant, but I made a test edit, and I still don't see it.) > > > > This is not super-efficient for several reasons: > > * Finding each place on the map may be time-consuming for practical > > considerations. > > * Sending each change manually is also time-consuming. > > * Typing the property name manually is slowish and error-prone. > > > > A lot of this data is already available on Wikidata. In fact, > > OpenStreetMap already has a Wikidata item property for each place. (It > > can also have a property for Wikipedia link, one for each language. It > > looks redundant to me: A link to the Wikidata item page would be enough.) > > > > Did anybody ever suggest importing the place names available on Wikidata > > to OSM, or to synchronize them regularly? > > > > > > -- > > Amir Elisha Aharoni · אָמִיר אֱלִישָׁע אַהֲרוֹנִי > > http://aharoni.wordpress.com > > “We're living in pieces, > > I want to live in peace.” – T. Moore > > > > > > _______________________________________________ > > Wikidata mailing list > > Wikidata@lists.wikimedia.org > > https://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/wikidata > > > > > _______________________________________________ > Wikidata mailing list > Wikidata@lists.wikimedia.org > https://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/wikidata >
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