Forum:The Foreign Office

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Hi, I've noticed on my travels that various other uncyclopedias (particularly the Spanish, French and Italian ones) have some very good articles and there are quite a few other communities I assume are good but have no clue what they are talking about. I've noticed a few foreign types tunneling under our barbed wire on a few occasions and - since the content they add appears to be of high quality - thought perhaps we should encourage some kind of exchange of ideas.

I have set up The Foreign Office - temporarily on my userpage, depending on whether people like it - as a hub for people from different uncyclopedias to drop their ideas/articles and steal others in return. What do you think? (apart from those of you now loading your shotguns, marching out onto your lawns and proceeding to fire shells randomly, shouting "I DONuT WAAAAn noooo dayum MEXICANS!", of course). --El Sid, the lazy one • parlez-vous franglais? 12:53, 13 August 2009 (UTC)

I for one think it seems like an interesting idea. —Unführer Guildy Ritter von Guildensternenstein 13:22, 13 August 2009 (UTC)

Glad you think so. It makes a lot of sense, if not for those (like us) that already have a good catalogue of articles, but for those that have fewer articles and need a bit of help. It's always good to get some fresh ideas in here anyway and it certainly can't harm (unless these people will end up taking our jobs and our womenjobs, some of them are Polish after all). --El Sid, the lazy one • parlez-vous franglais? 13:30, 13 August 2009 (UTC)

What if we don't understand English? Seriously, it's like Greek to me. Sir Modusoperandi ^Boinc! 14:01, 13 August 2009 (UTC)

And it's like Hebrew to me. /waits for the Jew brigade. MegaPleb • Dexter111344 • Complain here 14:03, 13 August 2009 (UTC)

Hebrew is like Greek to me. Rabbi Techno kvetch Contribs FOXES 14:05, 13 August 2009 (UTC)

You Are Now Entering Idiocity, Please Drive Recklessly Racially.

σορρυ, ςηατ ςασ τηατ? χαχαχαχα! --El Sid, the lazy one • parlez-vous franglais? 14:05, 13 August 2009 (UTC)

わかりません MegaPleb • Dexter111344 • Complain here 14:09, 13 August 2009 (UTC)

Русский!Русский!Русский!Русский! --El Sid, the lazy one • parlez-vous franglais? 14:13, 13 August 2009 (UTC)

Nope. I still haven't the slightest clue of what you're saying. Something about Russian vodka? MegaPleb • Dexter111344 • Complain here 14:16, 13 August 2009 (UTC)

водка!водка!водка!водка!водка!водка! --El Sid, the lazy one • parlez-vous franglais? 14:32, 13 August 2009 (UTC)

No really, I have no fucking idea what you're saying. Fucking Spic! MegaPleb • Dexter111344 • Complain here 14:34, 13 August 2009 (UTC)

Then I guess you should just fuck off back to the navy bitch --El Sid, the lazy one • parlez-vous franglais? 14:46, 13 August 2009 (UTC)

Speaking of seamen, this. MegaPleb • Dexter111344 • Complain here 14:48, 13 August 2009 (UTC)

全然わからない Sequence 00:17, 14 August 2009 (UTC)

lol... ok, back on topic beaches (now with added homophonic fun for the foreigners)

The concept has gone down well over in Portugal (in particular), Poland and France. No reply from anyone else. --El Sid, the lazy one • parlez-vous franglais? 14:59, 13 August 2009 (UTC)

Have you asked all of the foreign wikis or are there some you need others to ask? MegaPleb • Dexter111344 • Complain here 15:06, 13 August 2009 (UTC)

I managed to get all the 2,000 articles + ones except the Chinese which is impossible to find anything on (got the Japanese one somehow though). Also got the Czech, Hungarian and Russian ones. I'm in the process of getting Italy (which has an external forum), which should be a good catch. --El Sid, the lazy one • parlez-vous franglais? 15:20, 13 August 2009 (UTC)

Alright. I could help translate any Japanese articles for our site. MegaPleb • Dexter111344 • Complain here 15:25, 13 August 2009 (UTC)

And there I was assuming we'd have to go through them all translating purely from the pictures! Awesome, I didn't know we had any Japano-English translators :) --El Sid, the lazy one • parlez-vous franglais? 15:38, 13 August 2009 (UTC)

Well, as long as there aren't more than a few or as long as I'm not expected to translate Eigo articles into Japanese articles, then I should be good. MegaPleb • Dexter111344 • Complain here 15:43, 13 August 2009 (UTC)

Cool, I appoint you ambassador to Japan then. Go make threatening gestures at them if they haven't contributed within the week ;) --El Sid, the lazy one • parlez-vous franglais? 15:45, 13 August 2009 (UTC)

Oh and there is another thing. It might be good if we get the ball rolling and stick as many good accessible and translatable articles to the list (I mean ones that aren't obviously too American or English). I've stuck a few one there already, but it could do with more. I added Sherlock Holmes and Andy Murray's Diary because - although there is a definite British element - I think most people would recognise what is funny about them. --El Sid, the lazy one • parlez-vous franglais? 15:51, 13 August 2009 (UTC)

I think So So actually lives in Japan as we speak. So, I guess that's two? If, of course, he's ever around this place, though, I do see him pop in every now and then. Not that he would be interested in doing this. I was just mentioning that we have at least two. But probably only one that could do this.... Ah, screw it. Woody On Fire! Talking Woody Stalking Woody 15:53, 13 August 2009 (UTC)

I check the site every day. As a side note, I actually translated Perfect Disaster for the Japanese Uncyc like a couple years ago and wrote a few shitty original ones which I don't think they deleted because they don't seem to do the huffing thing there. It is considered insult to ancestols. --S0.S0S.0S.0S0 01:51, 14 August 2009 (UTC)

I wont to be teh ambasadoor to the Simpul English uncyc site, pleese. ---kun "whisper sweet nothings into thine ear..." 15:58, 13 August 2009 (UTC)

Sure you're up to the task Nach? --El Sid, the lazy one • parlez-vous franglais? 16:08, 13 August 2009 (UTC)

Doant edeet my emales, agen pls. ---kun "whisper sweet nothings into thine ear..." 16:10, 13 August 2009 (UTC)

Given a lot of time I could probably translate some spanish stuff, though I don't know how good I'd be at it and I'd probably wind up taking a lot of "artistic license". But it'd be great practice for me nonetheless, since I'm going to take AP Spanish this year. - T.L.B. WotM, UotM, FPrize, AotM, ANotM, PLS, UN:HS, GUN 17:44, Aug 13

Yeah that'd be cool, artistic license is still part of the game, a direct translation would end up looking clumsy anyway. My French/Spanish isn't bad so I could help you with Spanish too. Plus Italian and Portuguese isn't too hard if you've already got a handle on the other 2 big latinos (I mean getting the gist, not necessarily a direct translation). Worst case scenario would just be an exchange of the basic idea anyway. I have asked for details on the Foreign Office list, so people are tending to write a short summary of the article, which helps. --El Sid, the lazy one • parlez-vous franglais? 17:58, 13 August 2009 (UTC)

Hello. I'm a French contributor from the dÉsencyclopédie. I can help people to translate articles. The French page for translation is here. I think the articles Note en bas de page (Note at the bottom of the page), Franklin and La blague dangereuse (The fatal joke) would be easy to translate. There are one of the best French articles. Note that for Spanish articles, you have Frikipedia too. Ftiercel 19:00, 13 August 2009 (UTC)

Cool thanks Ftiercel, I didn't get in touch with dEsencyclopedie because I'd already spoken to WiiKend and suggested he organised something from over there, but I think he's busy at the moment and might not have told you (?) --El Sid, the lazy one • parlez-vous franglais? 19:14, 13 August 2009 (UTC)

Representatives

It would be easier to organise if certain people are "ambassadors" to certain other sites. At the moment I've been in contact mainly with the French and Portuguese ones, Dexter says his Japanese is pretty good so I've placed him there and TLB is Spanish ambassador and has no choice about it. NaturalBornKieler is German, so with his permission it would make sense for him to be involved with German matters, and Lars863 is an active member of the Dutch and English uncyclopedias. This just leaves:

• Chinese (which baffles me, I can't even find the forum)
• Italian (which should be good, they have some good articles and a pretty strong community)
• Polish (no official response, though someone has placed a couple of articles in the Foreign Office)
• Russian (they claim they have the ideas but not the man-power)
• Scandinavian (Norwegians said they are too busy making their cities more amusing, or something)
• Others - Czech, Hungarian, Greek (no response, quite small communities)

Anyone for these? --El Sid, the lazy one • parlez-vous franglais? 19:47, 13 August 2009 (UTC)

How about the Hebrew Eincyclopedia. Have you forgotten about the Eincyclopedia, the content free Encyclopedia that only Zionists can edit? ~ 19:52, 13 August 2009 (UTC)

Sure, I actually was including them in others, since they seem to be a pretty small community --El Sid, the lazy one • parlez-vous franglais? 20:05, 13 August 2009 (UTC)

Got 1800 articles. Bloody Jews. ~ 20:20, 13 August 2009 (UTC)

I stuck to whoring on every single uncyclopedia with over 2,000 articles and every Latin Alphabet-based uncyclopedia with over 1,000, so Hebrew, Thai and Korean got no visit from me. Think I should still pop by? --El Sid, the lazy one • parlez-vous franglais? 20:31, 13 August 2009 (UTC)

Actually, it was 3,000 and I singled out Russia and Greek as non-Latin alphabets to go with because I can read them --El Sid, the lazy one • parlez-vous franglais? 20:37, 13 August 2009 (UTC)

Latest update - we now have an ambassador from Portugal, Italy and Spain. Awesome. We should start a crusade or something. --El Sid, the lazy one • parlez-vous franglais? 21:40, 13 August 2009 (UTC)

Ansaikuropedia (Japanese)

They don't seem all that active... Only a very small group of them seem to be... Plus, their server seems to have issues. Anyway, I told them (in semi-decent Japanese) about it. Hopefully we can get a reply. MegaPleb • Dexter111344 • Complain here 20:22, 13 August 2009 (UTC)

Yeah there were a few that seemed to have pretty low activity (despite having a lot of articles). The portuguese one actually seems more active than this one though and there are quite a few other strong communities out there --El Sid, the lazy one • parlez-vous franglais? 20:29, 13 August 2009 (UTC)

Any new from the Japanese yet? Anyone want to be their ambassador? I think it's only China and Japan of the major ones that we're missing. --El Sid, the lazy one • parlez-vous franglais? 18:05, 14 August 2009 (UTC)

Nonciclopedia (Italian)

I'm sorry if we seem a little slow, in fact we are. We are still choosing the article that can be easy to translate and at the same time of a good quality. --MFH (talk) 16:08, 14 August 2009 (UTC)

No problem MFH, take your time - Rome wasn't built in a day you know --El Sid, the lazy one • parlez-vous franglais? 16:13, 14 August 2009 (UTC)

LOL ROME IS IN ROMANIA!!!    Orian57    Talk   22:48 14 August 2009

I know. Yeah, also... Albany is in Albania, Hull is in Holland, right? Any more? -El Sid, the lazy one • parlez-vous franglais? 23:07, 14 August 2009 (UTC)

London is in the UK!!!    Orian57    Talk   00:31 15 August 2009

my lips are on your sticky hips ---kun "whisper sweet nothings into thine ear..." 00:36, 15 August 2009 (UTC)

Progress Update

Just a quick update on the status of the project:

• Mordillo and MrN have done some fine work moving it to a more prominent position and doing some general editing.
• Got links with all the major foreign types, most of whom have put some of their best articles in the list for translation
• Put some of our best articles in the list too
• Started work on discussion pages for translations (and added a heap of stuff that I think looks quite good and wouldn't mind giving a go) --El Sid, the lazy one • parlez-vous franglais? 15:39, 14 August 2009 (UTC)

• Excellent work El Sid, the lazy one • parlez-vous franglais? ! Cross fertilisation Award could be yours. It just needs a little more water. --RomArtus*Imperator ® (Orate). 17:28, 14 August 2009 (UTC)

• The latest plan, suggested by Fire Wolf (Brazilian Uncyclopedia), is to have a mIRC meeting for the ambassadors (and anyone else who's interested I guess) so that we can discuss the project in detail and get some clear goals set down. --El Sid, the lazy one • parlez-vous franglais? 17:55, 14 August 2009 (UTC)

Please sign below...

...if you are interested in playing a part in The Foreign Office - as a translator, ambassador, co-ordinator, teamaker, whatever. --El Sid, the lazy one • parlez-vous franglais? 19:34, 14 August 2009 (UTC)

Below this line that I have drawn here - Please specify what role you can fill/skills you have

• My tea making has been recommended before. I will bite the shilling and join El Sid's army. --RomArtus*Imperator ® (Orate). 13:34, 15 August 2009 (UTC)

Apparently. :(

Alright Guys

The lack of interest is pretty disappointing, especially since certain other communities are quite keen on this concept but we're lagging behind. Would it be possible to have a "Foreign Office" or such link placed on the Community Portal so that n00bs might come across the project easier? --El Sid, the lazy one • parlez-vous franglais? 22:05, 15 August 2009 (UTC)

Um, most of us barely even speak English real goodly. Sir Modusoperandi ^Boinc! 22:42, 15 August 2009 (UTC)

Most of the other uncyclopedia's ambassadors happen to speak English vrey goodly, so that isn't really an issue.--El Sid, the lazy one • parlez-vous franglais? 22:45, 15 August 2009 (UTC)

So they can translate ours into theirs, and theirs into ours. Our monolingualism is beneficial to this relationship, how? Sir Modusoperandi ^Boinc! 22:54, 15 August 2009 (UTC)

Some of us aren't monolingual and I believe if this project were advertised to n00bs, we would find these bi/tri/quadri-linguals. Also, it's quite clear that a simple translation by a person who is not fluent in English, but is still capable of speaking it, would not be of sufficient quality for this site. That's why it would be good for people to be involved who can add the finishing touches. Anglifying it, essentially. But basically, if this project were given a little more publicity (perhaps a link could be integrated into the Welcome messages or something), I'd feel we'd done all we need to. --El Sid, the lazy one • parlez-vous franglais? 23:05, 15 August 2009 (UTC)

Also, I think you're kind of missing the point. Translation is only a part of this, it's about having the links to the other uncyclopedias and maintaining them as well, sharing ideas and stuff... --El Sid, the lazy one • parlez-vous franglais? 23:06, 15 August 2009 (UTC)

...I'm pretty sure that both of my comments in this section were jokes. I'm not entirely confident in that hypothesis, however, as I can be terribly inscrutable. Sir Modusoperandi ^Boinc! 03:59, 16 August 2009 (UTC)

Apologies Modus, thought you were just being deliberately antagonistic... --El Sid, the lazy one • parlez-vous franglais? 10:22, 16 August 2009 (UTC)

I agree that it could be useful to put a link to the foreign office to the main site. Also considering that some of the uncyclopedias in other countries (see the Turkish example with Ataturk) have issues with censorship as well. So though people here are coming from very different backgrounds/ages/sex etc - an understanding that other humour/humor sites like this will be supportive and assist if needed. Also remember that some other places - putting content like this would earn the writer five years hard labour or worse. --RomArtus*Imperator ® (Orate). 10:17, 16 August 2009 (UTC)

Yes, a link is all that is needed really, make the Office a bit more prominent. --El Sid, the lazy one • parlez-vous franglais? 10:22, 16 August 2009 (UTC)

I'd really rather not add anything to the main page. Anything we do, especially above the fold, takes us farther from wikipedia, which we are in the business of parodying, y'know? - T.L.B. WotM, UotM, FPrize, AotM, ANotM, PLS, UN:HS, GUN 01:44, Aug 17

Yep, true. How about something on the Community Portal then? That's more what I had in mind. Umm... sorry didn't see there already was a link there, cheers :) --El Sid, the lazy one • parlez-vous franglais? 09:23, 17 August 2009 (UTC)

Is There No German Uncyc?

Dammit. If there was I would join, as I may be of some use. But no. Nameable • mumble? 10:33, 17 August 2009 (UTC)

Oh wait, sorry there is. I'm just ignorant. Nameable • mumble? 10:34, 17 August 2009 (UTC)

Yep and NBK is the ambassador if you're interested.--El Sid, the lazy one • parlez-vous franglais? 10:45, 17 August 2009 (UTC)