Now this question may reveal my ignorance about the Welsh language and/or the Welsh Wikipedia and/or my own monolingualism (I don't read any other language well enough to attempt to read it in a non-English Wikiepdia), but English Wikipedia says that "Most Welsh-speaking people in Wales also speak English" and Welsh Wikipedia has 91K articles to English Wikipedia's 5M+.
Given the above, I am somewhat curious why the survey did not ask about the ability to speak English and the extent of usage of English Wikipedia and what factors made them choose to read one or the other. Given that most of the respondents are probably bi-lingual (to some degree) as readers, it would seem that they are probably reading English Wikipedia to some extent given its far wider coverage. So when and why do they choose to read Welsh Wikipedia? My guess is that it may be for reasons related to the Welsh language itself: * as first preference because their Welsh reading is better than their English reading (preferable) * as first preference because despite being equally or more fluent in English because they want to support the Welsh language (patriotism) * as first preference because despite being equally or more fluent in English they want to maintain or improve their Welsh language skills by reading in that language (learning) or because of the content: * because the topic of interest is only on Welsh Wikipedia (necessity) * because the topic of interest is on both Welsh and English Wikipedia and so reading both is likely to provide more information than reading just one (comprehensive) * as a second preference because the topic was not adequately covered on English Wikipedia and it is hoped it is better covered in Welsh Wikipedia (unsatisfied) Are there other reasons? Off-hand, does anyone have a sense of the coverage of Welsh Wikipedia? To what extent is it providing articles on topics not on English Wikipedia or much better covered than on English Wikipedia, vs providing articles on similar topics to English Wikipedia (possibly shorter) but in Welsh? That is, what do the goals of the writers of Welsh Wikipedia appear to be? Does it lean towards providing specific Welsh content or providing generic content in Welsh? I realise you can ask the same questions about any other language Wikipedia vs English Wikipedia, but for many other languages, there will be many people who speak the other language far more fluently than English (or may not speak English at all). But this seems to be less likely to be the case for Welsh-vs-English. Kerry -----Original Message----- From: Wiki-research-l [mailto:wiki-research-l-boun...@lists.wikimedia.org] On Behalf Of Richard Nevell Sent: Friday, 16 June 2017 11:40 PM To: wiki-research-l@lists.wikimedia.org Subject: [Wiki-research-l] Survey of Welsh Wicipedia's readership Hello, Earlier this year Wikimedia UK conducted a survey of Welch Wicipedia's readers. We wanted to learn more about their demographics and why they chose to read c. 1001 people filled in the survey and the results are available on meta-wiki in English <https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Research:Readership_of_Welsh_Wicipedia> and Welsh <https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Research:Canlyniadau_arolwg_o_ddarllenwyr_Wicipedia_Cymraeg> . Richard Nevell -- Richard Nevell Project Coordinator Wikimedia UK - sign up to our newsletter <http://eepurl.com/cnYOw5> +44 (0) 20 7065 0921 <020%207065%200921> Wikimedia UK is a Company Limited by Guarantee registered in England and Wales, Registered No. 6741827. Registered Charity No.1144513. Registered Office 4th Floor, Development House, 56-64 Leonard Street, London EC2A 4LT. United Kingdom. Wikimedia UK is the UK chapter of a global Wikimedia movement. The Wikimedia projects are run by the Wikimedia Foundation (who operate Wikipedia, amongst other projects). *Wikimedia UK is an independent non-profit charity with no legal control over Wikipedia nor responsibility for its contents.* _______________________________________________ Wiki-research-l mailing list Wiki-research-l@lists.wikimedia.org https://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/wiki-research-l _______________________________________________ Wiki-research-l mailing list Wiki-research-l@lists.wikimedia.org https://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/wiki-research-l