How to Find the Wikisource Project for a Specific Language

Updated

Go to wikisource.org and use the language lists on the Main Page. The page groups language editions by how many works they hold — 100,000+, 10,000+, 1,000+, 100+, and under 100 — and each language name links to that language's Wikisource project. If your language has no separate site of its own, look for it on Multilingual Wikisource, which hosts works in all languages and connects the language-specific projects.

What the Main Page gives you

The Main Page of wikisource.org is the entry point for every Wikisource edition. Its central section is a set of size bands, each listing language names as links:

Band What it means Examples from the page
100,000 + Largest editions by work count Deutsch, English, Français, עברית, Italiano, Polski, Русский, Українська, 中文
10,000 + Mid-size editions العربية, Español, فارسی, 日本語, 한국어, Nederlands, Português, Tiếng Việt
1,000 + Smaller editions Dansk, Esperanto, हिन्दी, Bahasa Indonesia, ไทย, ייִדיש
100 + Editions just past a hundred works Bosanski, Galego, Slovenčina
< 100 Smallest editions Alemannic, Boarisch, Føroyskt, Nordfriisk

The band a language appears in tells you roughly how much material that edition holds, so you can judge before clicking whether it is likely to have the text you want.

Step by step

  1. Open wikisource.org. The Main Page loads in English, with the heading "Welcome to Wikisource, the free library that anyone can improve."
  2. Decide which band your language is likely to be in. Large languages with long written traditions usually sit in the upper bands; smaller or newly started editions sit lower.
  3. Scan the language names in that band. Names are written in their own script (for example 中文, עברית, العربية), so look for the script rather than an English translation.
  4. Click the language name. You land on that language's Wikisource project, where you can search and browse its works.
  5. If you don't find your language in any band, check Multilingual Wikisource — the site you are already on — which hosts works in languages without their own subdomain.

Expected result: you arrive at a Wikisource site in your language, with its own search box and catalogue of texts.

When your language has no separate site

Multilingual Wikisource exists for exactly this case. According to the Main Page, works hosted here include:

  • works in multiple languages;
  • works in languages that do not have their own language subdomain, such as languages with a small corpus;
  • works made up of non-linguistic content;
  • works in languages that do have subdomains but cannot be hosted there because of those sites' own policies.

So if your language is missing from the size bands, search this multilingual site instead of assuming no Wikisource content exists in that language.

Common snags

  • Looking for an English name. The lists use native language names, so "German" appears as Deutsch and "Russian" as Русский. Search the page for the native form.
  • Assuming a small band means nothing useful. A < 100 edition can still hold the specific text you need; the band reflects total volume, not relevance.
  • Confusing this page with a language edition. wikisource.org is the multilingual hub. Once you click a language, you are on a separate project with its own pages and search.
  • Missing languages with subdomains but policy restrictions. Some works sit on Multilingual Wikisource even though their language has its own site, because that site's policies exclude them.

Deciding where to start

If you want the widest selection in a major language, start with a 100,000+ edition such as English, Deutsch, or Français. If you are working in a smaller language, go straight to its band and click through; if it isn't listed, use Multilingual Wikisource. Either way, the Main Page's banded lists are the fastest route from "I need texts in language X" to the project that holds them.