Babel/text

Meta

User language boxes list the languages a Wikimedia editor is comfortable communicating in, and their proficiency. This improves communication across the diverse community, both directly and by helping find interpreters and translators.

Usage

Babel user information
ru-N Русский — родной язык этого участника. en-5 This user has professional knowledge of English. fr-1 Cet utilisateur dispose de connaissances de base en français.
Users by language

You can add user information to your user page by inserting code like this:

{{#babel:ru-N|en-5|fr-1}}

This outputs the boxes you see at right. You can add as many languages as you want, in the form language code-proficiency level.

Language code

The extension recognizes standard ISO 639 (1–3) language codes. You can find your language by searching the list of ISO 639-1 codes or a database of ISO 639 1–3 codes.

Proficiency

The proficiency describes how well you can communicate in the language. It's indicated by a single character from the Proficiency column in the table below:

Proficiency	Meaning
0	You don't understand the language at all.
1	You can understand written material or simple questions.
2	You can edit simple texts or participate in basic discussions.
3	You can write in this language with some minor errors.
4	You can speak like a native speaker (though it's not your birth language).
5	You have professional proficiency; you understand the nuances of the language well enough to translate advanced documents.
N	You are a native speaker of the language and have a thorough grasp of it, including colloquialisms and idioms.

To remove the header and footer, use plain=1 as the first parameter, e.g. {{#babel:plain=1|sw-N|zh-3|de-1 }}. This makes it easier to use with other userboxes.

See also

• mw:Extension:Babel (the underlying software extension)
• Language combination indicators for translators
• Historical
  • Meta's alternative system (2008–2011)
  • Vote to enable extension (2008–2011)