If I were a gambling men, I would bet that ...

#Wikipedia would benefit from URL #localisation.

These words have one thing in common:

• Wikipedia
• ዊኪፔዲያ
• ويكيبيديا
• Վիքիփեդիա
• উইকিপিডিয়া
• ဝိကိပိဒိယ

They all say Wikipedia in different scripts. Each of these scripts have their exclusive characters, their own keyboard mapping. The localisation at translatewiki.net allows people to literally localise almost everything and as a result there is hardly any reason for using the Latin script.

One exception is the URL. You have to type http://ar.wikipedia.org/wiki/ويكيبيديا when you want to read the article in Arabic about Wikipedia. It is now possible to have a URL in other scripts then Latin and such awkward constructions are no longer needed.

My bet is that when a Wikipedia can be reached by typing the URL in the script of a language, it will make that Wikipedia more popular. It will get us free publicity at hardly any cost. An experiment is very much in order and I am sure that there are plenty of Wikimedia chapters that may be interested in running such an experiment.

The involvement of the Wikimedia Foundation would be one of enabler. It needs to allow for such constructions. Danese, Erik I bet you that this will generate more traffic for us.
Thanks,
     GerardM