[WikiEN-l] Babel template en-5

[Jimmy Wales]

Steve Bennet writes:
> What benefit, besides pure ego, does sharing this information with the
> world via babel boxes actually have?

Speaking only for myself, I often try to talk to people from all the
different language editions of wikipedia.  I like to know what level of
English a person feels comfortable with so that I can try to accomodate
them as much as possible if necessary.  I enjoy taking the time to
review things that I have written, asking myself whether I have used an
obscure word when a common word would suffice, etc.

Also, I am myself a language learning: spending time every day studying
German, and just now getting to the point where I might consider
upgrading my babel box from de-1 to de-2.  When I do, I really hope that
more Germans will try to write to me (using common words rather than
obscure ones) so that I can make new friends and learn new things.

We are an international project, and I think that babel boxes are great
for helping us to find other people who are interested in the same
languages.