Wikipedia:Editing as an ESL or EFL speaker
 | This essay is in development. It contains the advice or opinions of one or more Wikipedia contributors. This page is not an encyclopedia article, nor is it one of Wikipedia's policies or guidelines, as it has not been thoroughly vetted by the community. Some essays represent widespread norms; others only represent minority viewpoints—especially since this page is still under construction. |
The English Wikipedia benefits greatly from the English language's status as a global lingua franca, which means that it is spoken by a large amount of people as a second or foreign language ("ESL" or "EFL"). This results in wider and higher quality coverage than that found in other language Wikipedias, along with a broader range of viewpoints in discussions, deriving in part from more varied cultural backgrounds. Below is some advice for editing Wikipedia as an ESL or EFL speaker.
You may want to add which languages you speak to your userpage; this can help prevent misunderstandings by others, and let others know of your expertise in case they are looking for a speaker of a particular language. See Wikipedia:Babel for help with this.
Translating from other language Wikipedias
ESL/EFL speakers are well-placed to translate content from Wikipedias in languages that they speak, and often play an important role on the English Wikipedia in doing so, increasing the breadth and depth of its coverage. If interested, see Wikipedia:Translation for guidance and resources (remember to comply with WP:TFOLWP).
'Perfection' is not required
The key to writing content is that it is easily understandable by other speakers; it does not need to be grammatically perfect or written to a native-speaker level. Wikipedia is a collaborative project, meaning other editors will happily correct any mistakes (especially since this is not time-consuming for them to do, even native speakers commonly make such mistakes).
Another consequence of Wikipedia being a collaborative project, is that editors are required to be able to communicate and understand one another, especially in situations where there is a dispute about content or someone's behaviour.
If you find your English-speaking level does not meet this standard, consider starting simple (outlined below in § Building up to complicated or technical writing) or contributing to a Wikipedia in your native language (see Meta:List of Wikipedias and Meta:Requests for new languages; other language Wikipedias are typically in greater need of contributors and may benefit more from your involvement than the English Wikipedia would). Persistent failure to meet this standard tends to be disruptive, and can result in blocks.
Building up to complicated or technical writing
 | This section is undergoing significant expansion or restructuring. You are welcome to assist in its construction by editing it as well. This section was last edited 3 hours ago, at 22:11, 7 November 2026 (UTC) (). Please remove this notice if this section has not been edited in several days. You might want to temporarily replace this notice with {{In use}} during active editing sessions. |
Assistance from tools such as AI chatbots or copyeditors
Editors may find AI writing tools useful for assisting them in writing content, and this is permitted. However, caution is strongly advised; AI-generated content is largely prohibited on Wikipedia, which includes prohibiting AI translations of human-written text (unless translating content from another language Wikipedia if WP:LLMTRANSLATE is followed) and heavily-AI-assisted content.
English Wikipedia's AI policy permits editors to use LLMs to suggest corrections to their own writing, and to incorporate them after human review. This is limited to spelling, punctuation, capitalisation, grammar, and other simple mistakes. It does not permit the use of LLMs to "improve style or flow". In addition to the content quality issues associated with LLMs (such as AI hallucinations/verifiability failures, promotional tone, and copyright violations), writing is a form of human expression, and other readers and editors typically want to hear what you think, not what a chatbot outputs. As has been said above, some grammatical or spelling mistakes are not a problem (also, you may find that over-reliance on LLMs to edit would result in your English-speaking level not improving, or even worsening, because you wouldn't be practicing it).
Again, if you are unable to contribute without heavy assistance from such tools, you may find it easier to contribute to a Wikipedia in your native language (see Meta:List of Wikipedias and Meta:Requests for new languages). To get content you've written added to the English Wikipedia, you can request that an article you've written on another Wikipedia be translated to it by other editors (see Wikipedia:WikiProject Intertranswiki § Articles to translate by language), or tag an existing article with {{Expand language}}. Persistent misuse of LLMs/AI will result in blocks.
English dialects
English has a number of different dialects, sometimes with unique vocabulary or grammatical occurrences. English Wikipedia does not consider any particular dialect more correct than another. However, as with native grammar as a whole, contributions do not need to perfectly match the dialect used in surrounding text.
Plan
Advice about editing the English Wikipedia if you speak English as a second or a foreign language.
Points to hit:
- diversity is good
- know your level, be cautious as you develop your competency (WP:CIR), start small/simple etc.
- see m:List of Wikipedias and consider editing your native language wiki(s)
- content does not need to be written in 'perfect English' (WP:IMPERFECT)
- people need to be aware that dialectical differences are not 'incorrect' or 'improper' English, be careful when assuming that someone isn't a native speaker
- don't rely on LLMs to compensate for a lack of fluency, you'll get blocked and fluency won't improve anyway