Jamesofur

Hello and welcome to the Kurdish Wikipedia!

Hello Jamesofur, thanks for being interested in the Kurdish version of Wikipedia! As you`ve probably realized the Kurdish version of Wikipedia is quite young (it exists since 2004) and there are only around 12`000 articles here - just compare it with its Turkish version (130thousand artickes), its German version (900thousand articles) and its English one (over 3millions of articles!)... I want to show you why the Kurdish Wikipedia is playing a very big rule in protecting and developing Kurdish language:

• Kurdish is a language spoken by over 20 million people. But unfortunately no Kurd except of the Sorani speaking part has never get education in their own mother language - and there are millions of assimilated Kurds who aren`t able to use their mother language, neither by speaking nor by writing.
• I guess that 90% of our Kurdish Wiki-users have learnt reading and writing their mother language by their own: for example me myself I learnt reading writing Kurdish with 21 years (I`m 22 years old) - althogh that I`m speaking Kurdish fluently!
• I think that the Kurdish Wikipedia will show the Kurds that it`s worth speaking and writing in Kurdish - because a lot of Kurds don`t see any use in their own mother language - which is often the reason that they even dont want to speak Kurdish.

I am very thankful to Wikipedia, I guess that it`s the first and only online international encyclopedia of the world! This is one of the big reasons that I`m an active user of Kurdish Wikipedia. Wikipedia is like an "Online Teachet" for me - by translating German, Turkish or English articles into Kurdish I use and learn Kurdish very actively.

As I`ve written at the beginning of my "letter" the Kurdish Wikipedia is very very young, and also the Kurdish wiki-users are trying to learn the right use of Wikipedia. And unfortunately there are regular cross-wiki spams... some people who try to delete articles or write hate messages instead. So I am very thankful that you`re trying to help keep growing the Kurdish Wikipedia.

If you have questions just let me know, I will be glad to help you on your projects. Best Regards, --Ferrus 15:45, 21 kewçêr 2009 (UTC)