Non-English versions of Wikipedia have great content that's missing on English Wikipedia, and vice-versa. In a translation assignment, students identify high-quality articles on the language they are studying to translate to English Wikipedia. Non-native English speakers can translate an article from English into their native language. Some instructors in advanced (e.g., graduate) courses add an additional step and ask students to fact-check original sources before translating it to the target-language Wikipedia article.

Note: Wiki Education's staff can only provide support to edits made on the English Wikipedia. Each language Wikipedia has its own community and set of norms and policies, and students and instructors should keep this in mind when engaging in translation from one Wikipedia language to another. If your students will be editing in other language Wikipedias, let our staff know which languages so that we can configure your Dashboard course page to track all the edits.

Timeline: 4 weeks (minimum)

Suitable for:

• Foreign language courses
• Translation studies courses
• Students with native fluency in the language Wikipedia they will edit
• Courses with fewer than 30 students

Student learning outcomes:

• Writing and communication skills
• Translation skills
• Foreign language skills
• Media and information literacy
• Collaboration

For a more in-depth review, see our supplemental case study.