Interlanguage links (sometimes called interwiki links) seem simple, but there's a lot more going on than you may think. In this blog post I want to describe what they are and how they should be used.
If you have any questions or remarks, feel free to leave them in the comments.
Summary[]
Consider the following a tl;dr in case you do not want to read the entire post:
- When adding interlanguage links, make sure to check the following:
- The link you are adding is correct.
- You add the link to all other translations.
- The links are at the bottom of the page.
- The links are in alphabetical order.
- Consider using the Interlanguage Checker to automate the process for you.
How interlanguage works[]
Interlanguage links at the top-right of the page. (Desktop)
Interlanguage links at the bottom of the page. (Mobile)
Interlanguage links are special links that connect pages to their translations. For example, the Brotherhood of Steel page has [[de:Stählerne Bruderschaft]] at the bottom of the page to indicate that the German version of Nukapedia has a page called Stählerne Bruderschaft that also describes the Brotherhood of Steel. While you can place these links anywhere in the article, they will only be displayed in their designated places: in the top-right corner (desktop only) and at the bottom of the page (desktop and mobile).
Interlanguage links are useful for several reasons. On one hand readers may be more comfortable reading in another language, and on the other hand editors may find that the other wikis have information that they don't. By keeping the communities connected we can exchange more information.
Link organisation[]
A complete interlanguage network: Each page links to each other page. (good)
An incomplete interlanguage network: Some pages do not have links to other pages. (bad)
Because interlanguage works by listing the other languages per article, each page must link to all other pages. That is, if there are four translations of a page, each page must have three links on it. This means that there is a lot of duplication going on, but sadly there is no other way unless Fandom implements a system similar to Wikimedia's WikiData project.
Therefore, it is important that when you create a new translation, you add a link at all the other translations. If you don't, readers will only be able to find your new page on, say, the Russian site, but not on the French site.
To make it easier to find out which links may be missing on a page, it is customary to put them together at the bottom of the page in alphabetical order (e.g. pl before pt), with each link on its own line. Whether interlanguage links go above or below the categories depends on the wiki—the English Fallout Wiki requires them to go below the categories, while all other Fallout Wikis have them before the categories.
Example[]
Consider the Savoy page. Currently, there are only three translations: English, Russian, and Ukrainian. The pages look as follows:
| English wiki | Russian wiki |
|---|---|
[[Category:Nuka-World human characters]] [[Category:Disciple characters]] [[ru:Савой]] [[uk:Савой]] |
[[en:Savoy]] [[uk:Савой]] [[Категория:Рейдеры: персонажи]] [[Категория:Персонажи Nuka-World]] [[Категория:Люди]] |
| Ukrainian wiki | |
[[en:Savoy]] [[ru:Савой]] [[Категорія:Рейдери: персонажі]] [[Категорія:Персонажі Nuka-World]] [[Категорія:Люди]] |
Now imagine someone were to add a page about Savoy in Spanish. After doing that, it should look as follows:
| English wiki | Russian wiki |
|---|---|
[[Category:Nuka-World human characters]] [[Category:Disciple characters]] [[es:Savoy]] [[ru:Савой]] [[uk:Савой]] |
[[en:Savoy]] [[es:Savoy]] [[uk:Савой]] [[Категория:Рейдеры: персонажи]] [[Категория:Персонажи Nuka-World]] [[Категория:Люди]] |
| Ukrainian wiki | Spanish wiki |
[[en:Savoy]] [[es:Savoy]] [[ru:Савой]] [[Категорія:Рейдери: персонажі]] [[Категорія:Персонажі Nuka-World]] [[Категорія:Люди]] |
[[en:Savoy]] [[ru:Савой]] [[uk:Савой]] [[Categoría:Personajes de Fallout 4]] [[Categoría:Discípulos]] |
Exceptional networks[]
There are some exceptional situations where adding links is not straightforward. Most notable is the situation where one language has two articles for a subject for which another language has only one page. This actually happens surprisingly often, and the solution is to link to the most specific page.
- Overview pages
For example, while the English wiki has a page for each Fallout 4 bobblehead, the Russian wiki has only a single page listing the bobbleheads. Since it's not possible to add multiple links to the English wiki on the Russian page, it's not possible to create a fully connected network. The solution is to have each English bobblehead page link to the Russian overview page, and to have the Russian overview page link to the English bobblehead overview page.
If the English wiki would not have had the overview page, the Russian page should not have linked to the English wiki at all.
- Recurring items
Another example is an issue often seen with recurring items. The English wiki has multiple pages for combat shotguns: Combat shotgun, Combat shotgun (Fallout 3), Combat shotgun (Fallout 4), and so on. Meanwhile, the German wiki only has one page on the subject: de:Kampfflinte. While the German page title does not mention any game in its title, the page is actually specifically about the Fallout 3 weapon. Therefore, it should not be treated as the German counterpart of the Combat shotgun page, and instead the network should look as follows:
- Combat shotgun does not have a link to any German page.
- Combat shotgun (Fallout 3) has a link to de:Kampfflinte.
- Combat shotgun (Fallout 4) does not have a link to any German page.
- de:Kampfflinte has a link to Combat shotgun (Fallout 3).
Interlanguage Checker[]
A table generated by the Interlanguage Checker.
The Interlanguage Checker is a tool that automates all these checks for you. You simply enter the name of the article to check, and the tool will tell you which links are missing or wrong.