Wikipedia:Simple English Wikipedia
From Wikipedia, a free encyclopedia written in simple English for easy reading.
Welcome to the Simple English Wikipedia. This wiki is here because people who do not know much English need it. Every page here is pretty easy to read, and people can read them in their school, use them for computer work, etc. Non-English Wikipedias can also translate from the articles here.
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[edit] What is Simple English Wikipedia?
Simple English uses fewer words and easier grammar than the original English Wikipedia. This is not its only difference. It is for people with different needs: students, children, and adults with learning difficulties. Simple English is also much easier for "off-duty" people who may like simple language for other reasons: tiredness, unfamiliar topics, completing other duties, distracting backgrounds, or worry.
When the Simple English Wikipedia began, the original English Wikipedia already had 150,000 articles. Seven other Wikipedias in other languages had over 15,000. So most Simple English articles take old articles and make them simple; they are not often new articles. Because of this, Simple English articles can be a good way to understand complicated English ones: if someone cannot understand an idea in complex English they can read the Simple article. So it is quite important to have "interwiki links" to and from the other Wikipedias. Also, it is good to always look at all versions in all languages, to get new ideas. Wikipedia needs this to make it better.
"Wikipedia:What Wikipedia is not" has a good list of things which we are not doing. These things are a little different from the things the original English Wikipedia does not do. For example, it is more important to explain slang, idiom, and jargon in Simple English. And perhaps the Simple English Wikipedia has some things which are also in Wiktionary.
Also, because anyone can write here, for example people who only speak a little English, Simple English writers are very mixed, more than at English Wikipedia, or at other Wikipedias. It is important to respect diversity – to be friendly with people who are different. Remember that Wikipedia is not a community, it is a service which many communities use.
If you wish to write articles for the Simple English Wikipedia, read Wikipedia:How to write Simple English articles. See Wikipedia for a simple English introduction to the project in all languages, and Wikipedia:Useful for a list of pages that can help you more. You can ask questions at Wikipedia:Simple talk.
[edit] Simple English
Simple English is similar to English, but it uses only easy words.
We suggest that articles should use only the 1000 most common and basic words in English. They should also use only simple grammar, for example shorter sentences. Writers can also use a special system, for example Basic English. Of course, people can write original articles; these could be put in both this and the main Wikipedia (with a normal level of English). Usually, only about 2,000 words are enough to write a normal article.
Since some articles need more than 2000 different words, some complex articles use more words. But even very basic concepts (zero, one, two) are too difficult to explain with a small number of words.
For detailed writing about science, politics, or religion, articles sometimes need more words, but the English must be simple. Sometimes, an article uses more than 2000 words, maximum 3000, but it explains all the hard words. Articles need some complex words because of the article names in the original English Wikipedia, and to use normal words. Articles on scientific topics (Earth, etc.) usually need this.
There are no rules about vocabulary, tense or suffixes. Some articles use only Basic English (850 words), but this wiki has no strong rules about which words can be used, as E Prime does.
If a word is not simple or not used often here, explain it on a new page. This means that the Simple English Dictionary is part of the encyclopedia, not the Wiktionary.
