Language Brigade Wiki
Languages:
English Belarusian Catalan German Spanish French Galiciangl Italian Japanese Kannadakn Dutch Occitanoc Portuguese Brazilian Portuguese Romanian Russian Turkish Ukrainian valval Chinese Simplified Chinese Traditional Chinese Chinese (Taiwan)

Below are frequently asked questions, questions that we are asked a lot, usually (but not always!) by visitors or new members. Questions are sorted by subject, so that it is easier to link to a certain section of this page.

If you have a question that is not in this list, feel free to ask our members by posting it on Portal:English, or individually by posting on someone's message wall. It will be added here when it is a common question, so do not add your own questions here.

Related pages[]

  • Start — helpful information to get started around the wiki.
  • Project:Policy — what is (not) allowed on the wiki.

About the WLB[]

What is the Wikia Language Brigade?
The Wikia Language Brigade (WLB) is a project where users from across Wikia ("Brigadiers") volunteer to help other users and wikis with translations and corrections. It is fun, collaborative, and helps both English and international wikis! You can read more in-depth background information on WLB.
What are Brigadiers? Why do you call them that?
Brigadiers are members of the Wikia Language Brigade (WLB) and refers to being "member of a brigade". Other languages however may deviate from this term. See WLB terminology for the translations of this word in other languages.

Becoming a member[]

Can I join the WLB? Are there any requirements?
Anyone who has a Wikia account can join! There are no real requirements. You will be a "Brigadier" (WLB member) as soon as you have put your name and information in the memberlist of one of our languages. You can edit our wiki and help without doing so, but this will make it easier for us to contact you too.
How do I become a member?
Every language has its own memberlist: English, Spanish and many more languages. To join, you just need to put your name, language level and availability in the list(s) of the language(s) that you speak. A step-by-step guide can be found on the page Join.
Do I have to know more than one language?
Bilinguality and multilinguality is logically a real asset in the WLB, but it isn't necessary. Being unilingual, you can help making suggestions and improvements to the existing pages. What we do is also not only translations, but also corrections. To check the grammar and spelling of a page, you only need to know one language anyway.
What is this "babel" system? What is my "babel" level?
Babel is adopted from Wikipedia's Babel system, that a lot of wiki users know. It's a helpful way to consistently define a user's language proficiency level. You can go to Babel to find out yours. Stay real though: you don't want to disappoint or surprise users by indicating a too high or too low level.
I don't see my language here! What do I do?
That you don't see your language in Category:Brigadiers, doesn't mean you're not allowed to join. It just means that no one has joined yet, or that we could not get any reliable translations to create the page. Just contact Yatalu and she will give you the words and phrases that we need you to translate.

Translation/correction requests[]

I need something translated or language-checked. Where do I go?
For translations, you go here. For corrections, you go here. Instructions on how to make a request can be found at the top of these pages. The request rules go for both pages. If you have questions or doubts, don't hesitate to ask another user.
Where do I find what I can translate or correct?
More than Translate:Requests or Correct:Requests, your portal is the place where you can find what you can do for your language. It shows all active requests in your language, but also lists all pages on this wiki, some of which may still need to be translated or checked for mistakes.

Chat[]

Am I allowed to speak my native language in chat?
Our moderators can't speak every language and therefore it is hard to just answer "yes" or "no" to this question. An important rule of thumb here is: try to speak a language that most people in chat understand. If you don't know if they understand you, it's always safe to ask first.
Why does everyone in chat have a flag next to their name?
Every WLB member can have a miniature flag of the country they live in or the language they speak natively. You can request one too, by asking an admin or posting a message on this page. Don't forget to mention which flag you want.
Why is there a giant map in the chat background?
The WLB wants to cover any language around the world that Wikia supports. Therefore, our chat will be in a different color and with a different map in the background every two months. This follows the wiki's entire layout as well: the wiki background will be a location within the continent you see the map of in chat.

Miscellaneous[]

Huh? Didn't this wiki look different last time I visited it?
Possible! The wiki changes to a different "continent" theme every two months: January–February means Asia/purple, March–April means Australia/blue, May–June means Europe/green, July–August means Africa/yellow, September–October means South America/orange, and November–December means North America/red.
My language doesn't have an admin or moderator. Can I be one?
Is your language small or have you joined recently? Then the answer is definitely no. But even if you are a long-time member, we usually don't need extra admins or moderators. Yatalu and Jr Mime will spontaneously address someone when they think he/she is a suitable candidate for a language that needs support.