Wikipedia:WikiProject User Page Help/Content Advice/Expertise

One of the most important uses of the userpage - if not the most important - is to let editors know of your skills and areas of expertise.

[edit] Languages

What languages do you speak? What languages do you sort of speak if people speak slowly? What languages do you want to speak but don't know anything more than "Sprechen Sie Englisch"?

Displaying your linguistic capabilities is one of the most popular uses of userpages. An obvious benefit is that other editors will know if you can translate something for them, but this isn't just limited to interwiki translation. Sometimes sources for English-language articles are written in a foreign language, and Wikipedians may need someone to help them work out what they say. Sometimes articles about foreign subjects are nominated for deletion, and those skilled in a foreign language can help find out if the subject isn't Googling well because they're searching in Roman instead of Cyrillic.

Telling someone that you can't speak a language can also be helpful. If your English is poor, letting editors know that will help them understand. Also, if you're interested in a subject that is associated with a non-English language - for example animé (Japanese), Islam (Arabic) or Bollywood (Hindi), letting editors know that you rely on translations or subtitles will be of help.

[edit] Display

One of the most common ways to display languages is the user language templates available at Wikipedia:Babel. These consist of a box with the language's code, a number indicating the level of proficiency, and some accompanying text. Each template has the format {{user en-4}}, where 'en' is the code for the language (here English), and '-4' is the level of proficiency (here near-native). Native templates usually omit the number, e.g. {{user en}}. A full list of languages and levels is at Wikipedia:Babel. The Babel page also contains an extremely easy-to-use template for displaying all your languages in a neat box on the right, an example of which is on this page. The box on the right was generated using {{userboxtop}} and {{userboxbottom}}, in order to keep this help page out of the user language categories (see below), but it could have been generated simply by adding {{Babel-X|en|fr-4|de-1|ja-0}} to the top of this section.

If this format looks familiar, this is because it has grown to encompass all sorts of abilities, viewpoints and trivia - see Wikipedia:Userboxes - but languages were the original usage.

Each language template will also add you to a category of users who speak that language, as well as a subcategory for your proficiency level. For example, {{user en-4}} will add you to Category:User en-4 and Category:User en. If you don't wish to use the language templates, you can still add yourself to those categories by writing [[Category:User en-4|{{PAGENAME}}]] somewhere in your page (by convention, usually the bottom). The {{PAGENAME}} part is there to put you in the correct place in the category - if omitted, your page will be placed under 'U' for 'User'.

[edit] Dialects, grammar and other language templates

Some users display languages not recognised by ISO, commonly regional dialects such as American English, but also including constructed languages, ciphers, writing systems and simple jokes. The grammar userboxes are also worth mentioning here. All these templates can be displayed in the same way as the normal language templates.

[edit] Other areas

The other areas of experiences you could display on your userpage are as diverse as the subjects of this encyclopaedia, but apart from areas you're generally interested in, you could list your educational and professional qualifications, ability in programming languages and skill with musical instruments.

Many userboxes exist to show off your talents, and you can display them with the methods on Wikipedia:Babel and on Wikipedia:Userboxes. You don't have to use userboxes, however - often a well-written paragraph will look better than a carbon copy of what someone else has.