Archive:Stories: Difference between revisions

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+{{cquote|The utility of Wikipedia to me has been two-fold: firstly its daily use has become a fair substitute to the next best alternative, which capitalizes on my interests at the moment I feel them and imparts my spirit with knowledge when it is most demanded; secondly I use it in lieu of translator.  In more ways than one it is thus a communication aid unlike any other.
+What is my next best alternative encyclopedic resource?  At one point it was my father -- and in a way it always will be.  Ever since he lost his capacity to communicate in his native tongue effectively, however, his other abilities diminished dramatically.  When we moved to America in the 1990s he didn't speak English, so the next-best soon became the 1967 Britannica, "recycled" most appropriately.  The latter was indeed am excellent substitute for the Major Soviet Encyclopedic Dictionary (itself a sad shadow of the multi-volume Small Soviet Encyclopedia behemoth we were compelled to abandon before leaving Russia).  At around the same time the internet was just getting started.  With and without it I suddenly found myself in the role of the family's reluctant pre-teen translator.
+Nowadays I've nearly abandoned many paper resources we would use if internet were unavailable.  This is how Wikipedia became my dictionary and translator.  In situations where I wish to communicate with the people most dear to me about a concept they know in a different language I look it up in English.  Then I switch to their native tongue's edition for the same article -- or to a different one otherwise understood or related -- and voila the Tower of Babel is behind us.  Of course, this is a somewhat embellished passing beyond it.  One must still understand what the article is saying for example!  Yet, the fact is that this has helped me communicate with my father, my heritage and my new nation. }}
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 {{cquote|Wikipedia is imho the best Internet project ever, both, for practical as well as ideological reasons. First of all, its practical value is beyond any measures!! There's no single day I wouldn't use Wikipedia. To find more info about a keyword. To find a translation. To find a second opinion. To answer questions from my kids. ;o) In fact, one of my standard phrases when answering my kids' questions used to be: google it. But now it's: look it up at Wikipedia!