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comment by lil
lil  ·  4346 days ago  ·  link  ·    ·  parent  ·  post: Most viewed Wikipedia pages by language

Here's my translations from the Hebrew (of course Wikipedia also provides a translation). They seem very interested in their own famous people, USA and NYC, and the zipper. My guess is school kids have to research the previous leaders so go directly to Wikipedia. Does anyone read Arabic or Persian and can provide a quick translation?

1 Israel 2. artzot habrit - the term for the United States 3. Yitzchuk Rabin - assassinated former prime minister of Israel 4. The Zipper -- I do not understand this at all...but yes, the #4 page most viewed in Israel on Wikipedia, seems to be the Zipper 5. David ben Gurion - first prime minister of Israel 6. Jerusalem 7. Facebook 8. Theodore Hertzl - founder of Zionism 9. New York 10. Benjamin Netanyahu - current prime minister of Israel





GoatFood  ·  4346 days ago  ·  link  ·  

For what it's worth, I can provide a translation of the Arabic.

1. Egypt 2. Mohamad Ali Bashaa - An historic Egyptian leader 3. Omar bin Khataab - Historic Muslim caliph 4. Suleiman the Magnificent - Historic leader of the Ottman Empire 5. Mohammad Morsi 6. Muhammad (The Prophet) 7. The United States 8. YouTube 9. Algeria 10. Saudi Arabia

lil  ·  4346 days ago  ·  link  ·  

Thanks Goatfood. If these stats are believable, can you draw any inferences about which Arabic-speaking countries use Wikipedia the most. Do you think there are a large number of Arabic-speaking Europeans or North Americans using Wikipedia, so that the stats are not representative of countries at all?

GoatFood  ·  4346 days ago  ·  link  ·  

I really have no idea. I'm from the US, I just study Arabic. I'd certainly be interested to know though!

megaman  ·  4346 days ago  ·  link  ·  

As an Israeli I'm gonna go ahead and attribute the appearance of the articles about past figures to a general infatuation with the past of Israel, and the deification of certain figures (mostly Hertzel and Rabin), rather than scholarly efforts. The idea that past leaders represent some pure ideal is quite a common rhetoric here.

The zipper thing is baffling, though.

Meriadoc  ·  4345 days ago  ·  link  ·  

I may be wrong, but I feel there was some sort of rule regarding zippers in Judaism in regards to the Sabbath.

lil  ·  4346 days ago  ·  link  ·  
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