Babel/text

Template:Meta In other languages:Template:Lang-Babel

This page provides the framework for displaying the language ability of users on their user page. It helps users communicate by listing the languages the user can understand and their proficiency.

Census in Babel

Example of language skill box

en This user is a native English speaker. ja-1 この利用者は簡単な日本語を話します。

Not everyone at the meta speaks the same language. To help with communication, Users can categorize themselves into different language categories on their user page. Example language groups are: en for English, de for German, and so on. Additionally, users can specify their level of proficiency in the language.

• 1 stands for basic knowledge, i.e. the ability to understand and answer simple questions in the language.
• 2 stands for intermediate knowledge.
• 3 stands for advanced or fluent knowledge, i.e. the ability to correct spelling and grammar errors in the language.
• Category without number stands for 1st language speakers (so-called mother tongue).

For example, de-1 refers to a user with basic skills in German, and en-3 refers to a user with advanced skills in English. The two-letter language code is the two-letter code as described in ISO 639. (See List of Wikipedias).

Here is a sample of template usage:see the example of language skill box on the above. If your language has templates already on Commons, you can copy them to meta. (See Commons:Babel).

To draw the box above you write as the below:

{| border="1" cellpadding="2" cellspacing="0" width="25%" style="float:right; margin-left:1em; margin-bottom:0,5em; background:none;"
|-
|<center>Language skill box with [[Meta:Babel templates|Babel templates]]:</center>
|-
|{{User en}}{{User ja-1}}
|-
|}

Using language skill boxes offers another advantage; in case you have an advanced or native language skill level in at least two different languages, you will be sorted into a category combining these two languages. Thus, it is easier to find out if there are users with skills in a specific language combination. (see also: Multilingual_users)

How to add your language level to your user page

• 1:Select your language(s) and level, e.g. you speak english fluently (en-3) and basic spanish (es-1)
• 2:Add the matching templates {{user en-3}} and {{user es-1}} to the end of your user page.

Your user page is now listed in the Category:user en-3 and Category:user en for english, Category:user es-1 and Category:user es for spanish, all of which are subcategories of Category:Users.

Code Languages

af an ar ay bg br ca crh cs cy da de dsb el en eo es et fa fi fr fur fy grc he hi hr hsb id is it ja ko la lb lv mi ms nl no oc pl pt qu ro ru scn sk sl sq sr sv th tr uk vi zh zh-min-nan zh-yue

Categories and templates

Here a sample list of categories and templates needed. The order of creation is important:

1. Create the main category, (noted 1)
2. Create the secondary categories (noted 2-4)
3. Create the templates (noted 5-8). Template for 1st language speaker is green. Others are blue.

Current work... (Add your language here if it isn't in the next list)

Quarters of Babel

Babel templates are used on some other projects including

• Commons:Wikimedia Commons
• Wikibooks
  • de:German Wikibooks
  • en:English Wikibooks
  • hu:Hungarian Wikibooks
• Wikinews
  • fr:French Wikinews
• Wikipedia
  • ast:
  • bg:
  • br:
  • ca:
  • cs:
  • da:
  • de:
  • el: (still to be developed)
  • en:
  • eo:
  • es:
  • fa:
  • fr:
  • ga:
  • gl:
  • id:
  • it:
  • ja:
  • ko:
  • ksh:
  • li: (still to be developed)
  • mi:
  • ms:
  • na:
  • nds:
  • nl:
  • no:
  • pl:
  • oc:
  • pt:
  • ru:
  • scn:
  • simple:
  • sk:
  • sl:
  • sh:
  • sr:
  • sv:
  • tr:
  • uk:
  • zh:
• Wikiquote:
  • en:English Wikiquote
• Wikisource:
  • de:German Wikisource
  • en:English Wikisource (under construction)
  • it:Italian Wikisource
• Wiktionary
  • de:German Wiktionary
  • en:English Wiktionary
  • no:Norwegian Wiktionary
  • fr:French Wiktionary
  • it:Italian Wiktionary
  • la:latin Wiktionary
  • ca:Catalan Wiktionary

Some new attempts are going on including

• Project lang oriented
  • de:
  • it:
  • ksh:
  • na:
  • nds:
  • es:
  • oc:
  • pl:
• Improvement of usability
  • Template to put Babel templates
    • w:de:
    • w:en:
    • w:na:
    • w:nds:
    • w:es:
    • w:fr:
    • n:fr:French Wikinews
    • w:oc:
    • w:ksh:
    • w:pl:
    • s:it
    • Commons:Wikimedia Commons
  • Color gradation (pale blue, light turquoise, blue)
    • w:en:
  • Level zero knowledge of almost any language, place holders where translations are partially missing:
    • ksh:

See also

• Transbabel Language combination indicators for translators
• ksh:User:Purodha/InterBabel Source data that can be used to find the names of categories of users with specific language skills for most Wikipedias.