What Is the Difference Between Multilingual Wikisource and Language-Specific Wikisource Sites?

Multilingual Wikisource (wikisource.org) is the central hub for works in all languages and for connecting the separate language-specific Wikisource projects. A language-specific site, such as English Wikisource, hosts works in that language under its own subdomain. The practical rule is: a work goes to a language subdomain when that language has one and its policies allow the work; otherwise it belongs on the multilingual site.

What Multilingual Wikisource Hosts

According to the site's Main Page, the multilingual project is intended for four kinds of material:

• 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' specific policies

The last point matters most for editors. A language having its own Wikisource does not automatically mean every work in that language belongs there; site-specific policy can push a text to the multilingual project instead.

What Language-Specific Sites Do

Each language subdomain organizes its own collection in its own language and under its own rules. The multilingual Main Page links to these projects and groups them by size:

The multilingual site itself appears in the 10,000+ band, listed alongside the language projects.

How to Decide Where a Work Belongs

1. Identify the language of the work.
2. Check whether that language appears in the size lists on the multilingual Main Page, which indicates an existing subdomain.
3. If no subdomain exists, or the work is multilingual or non-linguistic, use multilingual Wikisource.
4. If a subdomain exists, check that site's policies; if the work cannot be hosted there, it can go on the multilingual site.

The Main Page describes the project as "the free library that anyone can improve," and the same open-editing model applies across the language sites. The page also notes that some of its own content is not marked for translation, so interface text may vary between the central site and the language projects.

A Concrete Example

A short text in a language with only a small written corpus and no subdomain of its own has no language site to go to, so it belongs on multilingual Wikisource. A Portuguese novel, by contrast, belongs on the Portuguese Wikisource, which sits in the 100,000+ band. A bilingual edition pairing two languages would also fit the multilingual project, since it is a work in multiple languages rather than a single-language text.

Key Takeaway

Use the multilingual site as the entry point and the fallback: it connects all language projects, lists them by size, and hosts what the language sites cannot. Use a language subdomain for ordinary single-language works once that language has its own project and its policies permit the text.