Wikipedia:Babel

User language templates aid multilingual communication by making it easier to contact someone who speaks a certain language. The idea originated on the Wikimedia Commons and has also been implemented on Meta-Wiki and some of the other Wikipedias, to varying extents. To participate, you can add the Babel template to your user page by following these instructions:

• Start off with {{Babel-N| (where N should be a value from 1 to 6)
• Next add one of the following codes for each language you speak or understand, separated by |, where xx is the Wikipedia code for the language. The general usage of each code level is as follows (note that not all languages have all levels, but you may create the template you are missing):
  • xx-0 if you don't understand the language at all. Don't use it for every language that you don't know; only when there is some reason why you might be expected to know it.
  • xx-1 for basic ability - enough to understand written material or simple questions in this language.
  • xx-2 for intermediate ability - enough for editing or discussions.
  • xx-3 for advanced level - though you can write in this language with no problem, some small errors might occur.
  • xx-4 for 'near-native' level - although it's not your first language from birth, your ability is something like that of a native speaker.
  • xx (no hyphen or number) for native speakers who use a language every day and have a perfect grasp of it, including colloquialisms.
• Then finish by adding closing braces: }}

Wikipedia:Babel

mg Ny teny malagasy no teny nibeazan'ity mpikambana ity.

en-4 This user speaks English at a near-native level.

fr-3 Cet utilisateur peut contribuer avec un niveau avancé de français.

es-1 Este usuario puede contribuir con un nivel básico de español.

Tadiavo fiteny ny mpikambana

Wikipedia:Babel

mg-0 Ity mpikambana ity dia tsy mahay miteny malagasy (na mety sarotra aminy ny miteny malagasy).

fr Cet utilisateur a pour langue maternelle le français.

en-2 Babel is able to contribute with an intermediate level of English.

it-1 Quest'utente può contribuire con un livello semplice di italiano.

Tadiavo fiteny ny mpikambana

So, for example, {{Babel-2|en|de-1}} would indicate a native speaker of English with basic knowledge of German. {{Babel-6|sv|no-4|he-3|lt-2|es-1|an-0}} would indicate a native speaker of Swedish with an almost-native knowledge of Norwegian, advanced knowledge of Hebrew, an intermediate knowledge of Lithuanian, a basic knowledge of Spanish and no knowledge of Aragonese.

These templates add you to the category associated with your level of understanding, and to the overall category for that language.

To find someone who speaks a particular language, see fiteny ny mpikambana, and follow the links. For the most part, the two and three letter codes are taken from ISO 639, but see this list for a comprehensive guide.

You can help expand this system by creating templates for your language. Categories have already been created for most languages which have editions of Wikipedia containing over a hundred articles; they just need labelling up! It's recommended to copy the English or French versions when expanding the scheme, as most of the languages listed here are incomplete.

Alternative

There is another option for achieving results the same as or similar to the standard Babel-X template above: you can add stand-alone language templates. Format: {{User xx-1}}{{User yy-1}}{{User zz-1}}.