Simple English Wikipedia
The Simple English Wikipedia is an English-language version of Wikipedia, an online encyclopedia, that is written at a basic level of English.[1] It was created on Septemeber 18, 2001. All of the articles in the Simple English Wikipedia use shorter sentences and easier words and grammar than the regular English Wikipedia.
 | |
Screenshot  | |
Type of site | Internet encyclopedia project |
|---|---|
| Available in | English |
| Headquarters | Miami, Florida, United States |
| Owner | Wikimedia Foundation |
| Website | simple |
| Commercial | No |
| Registration | Optional |
| Launched | September 18, 2001 |
People with different needs use the Simple English Wikipedia. They include:
- Students
- Children
- Adults who might find it hard to learn or read (including those with a learning disability)
- People who are learning English as a second language
Other people use the Simple English Wikipedia because the basic language helps them understand hard ideas or topics they do not know about.
Many articles are shorter than the same articles in the English Wikipedia.[2] Technical subjects use some terms that are not simple. Editors try to explain these terms in a simple way. This makes Simple English articles a good way to understand difficult articles from the ordinary English Wikipedia. If someone cannot understand an idea in complex English, they can read the Simple English article.
When the Simple English Wikipedia started creation of pages and allowing changes in 2003, the ordinary English Wikipedia already had 150,000 articles. Seven other Wikipedias in other languages also had over 15,000 articles. Since the other Wikipedias already have so many articles, most Simple English articles take articles from other Wikipedias and make them simple; they are usually not new articles. Right now, the Simple English Wikipedia has 205,912 articles. Simple Wikipedia is now the 50th largest Wikipedia.[3]
Related pages
References
- ↑ Tim Dowling (January 14, 2008). "Wikipedia too long-winded for you? Try the simple version". The Guardian. Retrieved 2009-05-17.
- ↑ Koen Smets. "Automatic Vandalism Detection in Wikipedia: Towards a Machine Learning Approach" (PDF). University of Antwerp. Retrieved 2009-05-17.
- ↑ Wikimedia list of Wikipedias and their statistics Retrieved 24 December 2020.