Wikipedia has more articles written in Dutch than in Spanish

Georgina   Fri Apr 30, 2010 2:11 am GMT
Wikipedia

English
The Free Encyclopedia
3 273 000+ articles

Español
La enciclopedia libre
591 000+ artículos

Nederlands
De vrije encyclopedie
599 000+ artikelen

source:http://www.wikipedia.org/
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Isn't that just sad? A nation of not quite 17 million has more output than a language with 350-400 million speakers?
Franco   Fri Apr 30, 2010 2:21 am GMT
Spanish articles have more depth by far, it second major Wikipedia version behind English with biggest depth and this measures overall quality . Many of articles in the Dutch wikipedia are writen automatically by a robot, for example those about villages of Spain that have less than 100 inhabitants and lack a dedicated article even in the Spanish Wikipedia. Spanish Wikipedia represent more output in terms of information because it's not only number of articles but what it's really writen in them. An article in the Spanish wikipedia is worth 100 articles in the Dutch Wikipedia.
Georgina   Fri Apr 30, 2010 2:23 am GMT
umm yeah ok.
Walloon   Fri Apr 30, 2010 2:27 am GMT
Baldewin   Fri Apr 30, 2010 5:08 pm GMT
Dutch has 23 million native speakers and is also understood by Afrikaans speakers. Also, the information about the depth isn't always reliable. However, I DO believe Spanish articles have more depth and they better have with so many speakers and the fact monoglottery is high in their language zone.
Baldewin   Fri Apr 30, 2010 5:14 pm GMT
About Wikipedia: German also has a nice version, but made by stoic people with a stoic mentality and therefore the articles are very sober with only the necessary information. As a Germanic that is what I like. Soberness is what keeps us going and it's driving Latin people mad. Also add to this the strict guidelines people have to follow before even thinking about sharing information, drilled in to children since high school. The German Wikipedia has very strict moderators, I think even stricter than the French one (which is the Wikipedia which likes to use portals, by the way).
Franco   Fri Apr 30, 2010 5:18 pm GMT
There should be another parameter to measure quality of Wikipedia versions and it's their originality and not just cheap translation of English articles. I suspect that in those countries that speak English well like Netherlands and Sweden many of articles in their national Wikipediae are blind translations of English Wikipedia.
Spouting OFF   Fri Apr 30, 2010 5:21 pm GMT
Yes, Germans are like Spartans, aren't they?
Baldewin   Fri Apr 30, 2010 5:28 pm GMT
About the Roman Empire the Dutch Wikipedia is very detailed, but it can always be better. I agree about the translation bots with no fantasy. People shouldn't be too lazy to use books themselves and link to actual media.
I personally believe the educational system needs to stimulate this as well. The Germans and the French seem to be doing a good job and the Spanish is showing a lot of potential when it comes to this regard.
Dutch is doing exceptionally well for its small size, due to work ethics. Most of the work is thanks to Northern Dutch with Calvinist roots. Enjoying life isn't appreciated in the Netherlands, you have to work and people spontaneously feel guilty when they enjoy life too much. Sadly, its side-effect is that they also frown upon themselves and suck up to English.

Also the Chinese one is surprisingly detailed, despite Wikipedia being banned in China (or formerly being banned, but I think it still is). I know China uses another online encyclopedia, forgot which one.
JJ   Fri Apr 30, 2010 5:29 pm GMT
Quite impressive for a language spoken by so few people. Well done Nederland and all other Dutch speaking places and countries...
Baldewin   Fri Apr 30, 2010 5:57 pm GMT
By the way: scroll down, hit play and listen to the narrator's voice. That guy always cracks me up.
http://nl.wikipedia.org/wiki/Christendom
This one is more detailed, but has no narrator: http://nl.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rooms-katholieke_Kerk
Franck   Sat May 01, 2010 2:36 am GMT
<< Spanish articles have more depth by far, it second major Wikipedia version behind English with biggest depth and this measures overall quality . Many of articles in the Dutch wikipedia are writen automatically by a robot, for example those about villages of Spain that have less than 100 inhabitants and lack a dedicated article even in the Spanish Wikipedia. Spanish Wikipedia represent more output in terms of information because it's not only number of articles but what it's really writen in them. An article in the Spanish wikipedia is worth 100 articles in the Dutch Wikipedia. >>

Oh yes, Wikipedia articles in Spanish have depth..... have depth in tampering information not based on facts and what is real.