{"id":1348,"date":"2014-06-18T01:18:46","date_gmt":"2014-06-17T23:18:46","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.greenman.co.za\/blog\/?p=1348"},"modified":"2014-10-29T20:48:26","modified_gmt":"2014-10-29T18:48:26","slug":"june-2014-african-wikipedia-and-wiktionary-update","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.greenman.co.za\/blog\/?p=1348","title":{"rendered":"June 2014 African Wikipedia and Wiktionary update"},"content":{"rendered":"

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\nThis weekend sees the first Wiki Indaba<\/a>, a gathering of African Wikimedians. Since my last look at the state of African language Wikimedia projects was in May 2013, and my last look at Wiktionary (the dictionary project, not as widely-known as its more popular sister, Wikipedia) was way back in 2011, it’s time for an update.<\/p>\n

African Language Wiktionaries<\/h3>\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n
Language<\/th>\n3\/8\/2009<\/th>\n30\/5\/2010<\/th>\n15\/5\/2011<\/th>\n17\/6\/2014<\/th>\n<\/tr>\n
Malagasy<\/a><\/td>\n142<\/td>\n4,253<\/td>\n–<\/td>\n3,191,393<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Afrikaans<\/a><\/td>\n14,128<\/td>\n14,669<\/td>\n14,731<\/td>\n15,792<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Swahili<\/a><\/td>\n12,956<\/td>\n13,000<\/td>\n13,027<\/td>\n13,885<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Wolof<\/a><\/td>\n2,675<\/td>\n2,689<\/td>\n2,693<\/td>\n2,310<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Sotho<\/a><\/td>\n1,387<\/td>\n1,389<\/td>\n1,398<\/td>\n1,343<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Zulu<\/a><\/td>\n127<\/td>\n131<\/td>\n510<\/td>\n586<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Rwandi<\/a><\/td>\n306<\/td>\n306<\/td>\n306<\/td>\n366<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Swati<\/a><\/td>\n31<\/td>\n371<\/td>\n377<\/td>\n290<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Oromo<\/a><\/td>\n186<\/td>\n218<\/td>\n264<\/td>\n269<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Amharic<\/a><\/td>\n311<\/td>\n319<\/td>\n377<\/td>\n204<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Tsonga<\/a><\/td>\n358<\/td>\n359<\/td>\n363<\/td>\n92<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/table>\n

The startling progress of Malagasy is most notable, and here it seems bot activity is primarily responsible. Malagasy is one of the more interesting languages linguistically, so it’s not surprising it’s attracting interest. Afrikaans and Swahili also showed some activity in the last year, while other languages are static, with many showing a reduction in the number of articles due to cleanups.<\/p>\n

What about the Wikipedias?<\/p>\n

African Language Wikipedias<\/h3>\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n
Language<\/th>\n11\/2\/2011<\/th>\n13\/4\/2012<\/th>\n9\/5\/2013<\/th>\n17\/6\/2014<\/th>\n<\/tr>\n
Malagasy<\/a><\/td>\n3,806<\/td>\n36,767<\/td>\n45,361<\/td>\n47,144<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Afrikaans<\/a><\/td>\n17,002<\/td>\n22,115<\/td>\n26,752<\/td>\n31,756<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Yoruba<\/a><\/td>\n12,174<\/td>\n29,894<\/td>\n30,585<\/td>\n30,910<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Swahili<\/a><\/td>\n21,244<\/td>\n23,481<\/td>\n25,265<\/td>\n26,349<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Amharic<\/a><\/td>\n6,738<\/td>\n11,572<\/td>\n12,360<\/td>\n15,968<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Egyptian Arabic<\/a><\/td>\n <\/td>\n8,433<\/td\n\n\n10,379<\/td>\n12,440<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Somali<\/a><\/td>\n1,639<\/td>\n2,354<\/td\n\n\n2,757<\/td>\n3,646<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Lingala<\/a><\/td>\n1,394<\/td>\n1,816<\/td>\n2,025<\/td>\n2,077<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Shona<\/a><\/td>\n <\/td>\n <\/td>\n1,421<\/td>\n2,077<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Kabyle<\/a><\/td>\n <\/td>\n <\/td>\n1,503<\/td>\n1,876<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Kinyarwanda<\/a><\/td>\n <\/td>\n1,501<\/td>\n1,817<\/td>\n1,832<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Wolof<\/a><\/td>\n1,116<\/td>\n1,814<\/td>\n1,161<\/td>\n1,201<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/table>\n

Afrikaans continues to show the most consistent growth and the healthiest community. Yoruba overtook Afrikaans thanks mostly to a burst of bot activity, but Afrikaans has now once again overtaken it. Malagasy, again thanks to bot activity, is well ahead, but the consistent growth in Afrikaans means it is closing the gap, and has higher quality articles.<\/p>\n

Of the other African languages, Amharic, Egyptian Amharic, Somali and Shona are all showing reasonable activity, so the signs are good.<\/p>\n

Focusing on South Africa specifically:<\/p>\n

South African Language Wikipedias<\/h3>\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n
Language<\/th>\n19\/11\/2011<\/th>\n13\/4\/2012<\/th>\n9\/5\/2013<\/th>\n17\/6\/2014<\/th>\n<\/tr>\n
Afrikaans<\/a><\/td>\n20,042<\/td>\n22,115<\/td>\n26,754<\/td>\n31,756<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Northern Sotho<\/a><\/td>\n557<\/td>\n566<\/td>\n685<\/td>\n691<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Zulu<\/a><\/td>\n256<\/td>\n483<\/td>\n579<\/td>\n630<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Tswana<\/a><\/td>\n240<\/td>\n490<\/td>\n495<\/td>\n510<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Swati<\/a><\/td>\n359<\/td>\n361<\/td>\n364<\/td>\n400<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Xhosa<\/a><\/td>\n125<\/td>\n136<\/td>\n148<\/td>\n333<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Tsonga<\/a><\/td>\n192<\/td>\n193<\/td>\n240<\/td>\n303<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Venda<\/a><\/td>\n193<\/td>\n190<\/td>\n204<\/td>\n209<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Sotho<\/a><\/td>\n132<\/td>\n145<\/td>\n188<\/td>\n197<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n

I’ve discussed the success of the Afrikaans Wikipedia above, and the other language showing good progress has been Xhosa, which survived the proposal to close it in 2013. Wikimedia ZA announced in their April newsletter that they were diverting resources away from Xhosa, after numerous failed attempts to activate the language.<\/p>\n

However, in March, the Xhosa Wikipedia started to show signs of life. For a small Wikipedia, all it takes is one or two active editors, and Xhosa has found one, so the article count, as well as the article quality, has jumped noticeably. Xhosa has leapt from last place (excluding Ndebele, which is the only South Africa official language not to have its own Wikipedia) to sixth, above Tsonga, Venda and Sotho.<\/p>\n

The other Wikipedias are still only showing flickering signs of interest, and have only a small number of new articles.<\/p>\n

Related articles<\/p>\n