User Guide: Languages
From WikiMapia
[edit] About Languages
Wikimapia currently supports 93 languages. That means that it is possible to describe each tagged place in any of these languages. You can think of each place as being a folder containing one or more sheets of paper, each written in a different language. In practice only a very few places actually have descriptions in every language. Most places are only described in a single language, but quite a few places do have descriptions in two or more languages.
Those bold red words that you see on the screen, and the drop-down menus below them, also exist in multiple languages, although they have not been translated into every language yet. This means that you can (probably) use Wikimapia almost entirely in your own language. You may also be able to read this User Guide in your own language, if you see it at the top of this page.
To change your currently selected language, click the red "WikiMapia" menu, and select the second item "Change language", which is always in English. The next screen shows the available languages (again, always in English). The English language is the one that says "English" in the second column. Click on your language. If there is a * next to your language, then it has been translated and the screen will reload and show the red words in your language.
But the big reason to select your own language is to make the tooltips (those words on a yellow background that appear when you hover your mouse cursor over a place tag) show you the place titles in your language, and if you click on the place tag, it will show the page in your selected language. Of course, this is only possible if someone has written a description page in your language.
If there is no page in your language, then English will be shown instead, or Russian if there is no English page, or French if there is no Russian page either, or (etc. etc.). There is a specific priority sequence to all the languages, and whichever language is closest to the top of that sequence is what you will see.
Note that there are some things that appear to be language related but that we can not change. For example, if you are viewing the Map layer in Tokyo, the street names are in Japanese because that is what is in the map data supplied by Google.
[edit] Languages Q & A
[edit] Someone wrote a nice English description of a place but marked it as Vietnamese. What should I do with this? / Can I remove a place's description in a particular language without deleting the entire place?
It would sometimes be nice to be able to simply change the language that a page is written in, or even delete the page entirely, but this function does not (yet) exist. Once a page is written in a particular language, it stays there as long as the place tag itself exists. Often the best that you can do is to select "Add another language" from the place's menu, and copy the information into the new properly designated language page, while leaving the incorrect one as is. If you choose to Delete the place you need to be aware that you would delete every language page belonging to the place. [Have a look at the Deleting Places section of this User Guide.]
[edit] Why do I see the tooltip info for place XXX in language YYY? / Why do some places in Denmark show me a Russian name instead of, say, Swedish?
This happens because of the sequencing of the available languages. See above.
[edit] How is the default language for my created places determined?
After you have created a place in language XXX it will become your default until you create a place in a different language. So if you like to create places in different languages you have to really pay attention to what this defaults to.
[edit] What languages should I translate my new place tag into?
Only into those languages that you are familiar with. Don't try to use a translation tool or a foreign Wikipedia page. It's best to leave these kinds of tasks to people who are more familiar with those languages.
[edit] I found a place described in a language I do not know, but I want to know what was written. What can I do?
There are a number of online services offering automatic translations, including Google Language Tools and Babel Fish. In fact, more than can be reasonably listed here. Searching for, for example, "English Danish translation" should normally turn up something useable. Just remember that automatic translations are not perfect and often give you no more than a rough idea of what is written. If you are desperate, you may also be able to get some help in the Translations section of the Forum.
[edit] I can see a number of different strange language codes at the bottom right of the place info, but how can I tell which languages they are?
Most of those codes follow the ISO 639-1 standard, but not all. After a while you will recognize the common ones, but until then just rest your cursor over it and a tooltip will show you the name of the language (in English).
[edit] How can I help translate the user interface into my language? / I'm using the XXX language translation of Wikimapia, but some words and phrases are in English.
After you have registered, go to the Wikimapia translate page to see the current status of your language, to sign up for translating and to translate any missing words or phrases. You need to be registered for at least 14 days to sign up as an editor for a language interface.
[edit] I added a new language for an existing place tag, but it is not shown in my list of created places. Why?
Only the very first place creator gets it listed. But your "edited" place tag counter did increase by one, so you still got credit for it.
