Wikipedia:About
The Simple English Wikipedia is a free encyclopedia for people who are learning English. The Simple English Wikipedia's articles can be used to help with school homework or just for the fun of learning about new ideas. Non-English Wikipedias can also translate from the articles here.
Wikipedia started on January 15, 2001 and it has over 35,000,000 articles in many languages, including 264,073 in Simple English. Most of these articles are in languages other than English. Every day, hundreds of people from around the world make hundreds of changes and create lots of new articles.
Note: Wikipedia has pages that some people might think are bad, vulgar, or mean. Read the Wikipedia content disclaimer for more information.
Articles in the Simple English Wikipedia use fewer words and grammar that is easier to understand than the normal English Wikipedia. The Simple English Wikipedia is also for people with different needs, such as children, students, and adults with learning difficulties, and people who are trying to learn English. Other people may use the Simple English Wikipedia because simple language helps them to understand unfamiliar topics or complex ideas.
When the Simple English Wikipedia began, the normal English Wikipedia already had 150,000 articles, and seven other Wikipedias in other languages 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.
This makes Simple English articles a good way to understand difficult articles from the normal English Wikipedia. If someone cannot understand an idea in complex English, they can read the Simple English article. For this reason, people writing Simple English articles should put in "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: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 normal English Wikipedia does not do. For example, in the Simple English version it is more important to explain slang, idioms, and jargon. The Simple English Wikipedia also has some articles that are also on Wiktionary.
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