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Movie Making Manual/Introduction

Filmmaking is the process of making a film. The nature of the film determines the size and type of crew required during filmmaking. Many Hollywood adventure films employ a cast and crew of thousands and have complicated computer generated imagery (CGI), while a low-budget, independent film may be made with a skeleton crew, often paid very little. Filmmaking takes place all over the world using different technologies and techniques, and is produced in a variety of economic contexts that range from state-sponsored documentary in China to profit-oriented movie making within the American studio system.

Stages of Filmmaking
The filmmaking production cycle consists of five main stages: An entire Hollywood-style production cycle typically takes three years. The first year is taken up with development. The second year comprises pre-production and production and the third year comprises post-production and distribution.
 * 1) Development
 * 2) Pre-production
 * 3) Production
 * 4) Post-production
 * 5) Distribution

Development
In development, an idea is fleshed out into a viable script. The producer of the movie will find a story, which may be from books, other films, true stories, original ideas, etc. Once the theme, or underlying message, has been identified, a synopsis will be prepared. This is followed by a step outline, which breaks the story down into one-paragraph scenes, concentrating on the dramatic structure. Next, a treatment is prepared. This is a 25 to 30 page description of the story, its mood and characters, with little dialog and stage direction, often containing drawings to help visualize the key points.

The screenplay is then written over a period of perhaps six months, and will be rewritten several times to improve the dramatization, clarity, structure, characters, dialog, and overall style. However, producers often skip the previous steps and develop submitted screenplays which are assessed through a process called script coverage. A film distributor should be contacted at an early stage to assess the likely market and hence financial success of the film. Hollywood distributors will adopt a hard-headed business approach and consider factors such as: the film genre, the target audience, the historical success of similar films, the actors who might appear in the film and the potential directors of the film. All these factors imply a certain attraction of the film to a possible audience and hence the number of "bums on seats" during the theatrical release. Films rarely make a profit from the theatrical release alone, therefore DVD sales and worldwide distribution rights need to be taken into account.

The movie pitch is then prepared and presented to potential film financiers. If the pitch is successful and the movie is given the "green light" then financial backing is offered, typically from a major film studio, film council or independent investors. A deal is negotiated and contracts are signed.

Preproduction
In preproduction, the movie is designed and planned. The production company is created and a production office established. The production is storyboarded and visualised with the help of illustrators and concept artists. A production budget will also be drawn up to cost the film.

The Producer will hire people to fill the following roles:

 * The director is primarily responsible for the acting in the movie and manages the creative elements.
 * The assistant director (AD) manages the shooting schedule and logistics of the production among other tasks.
 * The casting director finds actors for the parts in the script. This normally requires an audition by the actor. Lead actors are carefully chosen and are often based on the actor's reputation or "star power."
 * The location manager finds and manages the film locations. Most pictures are shot in the predictable environment of a studio sound stage but occasionally outdoor sequences will call for filming on location.
 * The production manager manages the production budget and production schedule. He or she also reports on behalf of the production office to the studio executives or financiers of the film.
 * The director of photography (DOP) or cinematographer creates the photography of the film. He or she cooperates with the director, director of audiography (DOA) and AD.
 * The art director manages the art department, which makes production sets, costumes and provides makeup & hair styling services.
 * The production designer creates the look and feel of the production sets, costumes, make up and hairstyles, working with the art director to create these elements.
 * The storyboard artist creates visual images to help the director and production designer communicate their ideas to the production team.
 * The production sound mixer manages the audio experience during the production stage of a film. He or she cooperates with the director, DOP, and AD.
 * The sound designer creates new sounds and enhances the aural feel of the film with the help of foley artists.
 * The composer creates new music for the film.
 * The choreographer creates and coordinates the movement and dance - typically for musicals. Some films also credit a fight choreographer.

Production
In production the movie is actually created and shot. More crew will be recruited at this stage such as the property master, script supervisor, assistant directors, stills photographer, picture editor, and sound editors. These are just the most common roles in filmmaking and the production office will be free to create any unique blend of roles to suit a particular film.

A typical day's worth of shooting begins with an assistant director following the shooting schedule for the day. The film set is constructed and the props made ready. The lighting is rigged, the camera and sound recording equipment are set up. At the same time the actors are wardrobed in their costumes and attend the hair and make-up departments.

The actors rehearse their script and blocking with the director. The picture and sound crews then rehearse with the actors. Finally, the action is shot with as many takes as the director sees fit.

Each take of a shot follows a slating procedure and is marked on a clapperboard, which helps the editor keep track of the takes in post-production. The clapperboard records the scene, take, director, director of photography, date, and name of the film written on the front, and is displayed for the camera. The clapperboard also serves the necessary function of providing a marker to sync up the film and the sound take. Sound is recorded on a separate apparatus from the film and they must be synched up in post-production.

The director will then check to see if the shot was good or not. The script supervisor, sound and camera teams mark every take as either good (G or a circle around the take's number) or not good (NG) on their respective report sheets. Every report sheet records important facts about each take.

When shooting is finished for the scene, the director declares a "wrap." The crew will "strike," or dismantle, the set for that scene. The director approves the next day's shooting schedule and a daily progress report is sent to the production office. This includes the report sheets from continuity, sound, and camera teams. Call sheets are distributed to the cast and crew to tell them when and where to turn up the next shooting day.

For productions using traditional photographic film, the unprocessed negative of the day's takes are sent to the film laboratory for processing overnight. Once processed, they return from the laboratory as dailies or rushes (film positives) and are viewed in the evening by the director, above the line crew, and sometimes, the cast. For productions using digital technologies, shots are downloaded and organized on a computer for display as dailies.

When the entire film is in the can, filmmaking lingo for the completion of the production phase, the production office normally arranges a wrap party to thank all the cast and crew for their efforts.

Post-production
In post-production, the film is assembled by the film editor. The modern use of video in the filmmaking process has resulted in two workflow variants: one using entirely film, the other using a mixture of film and video:

1. In the film workflow, the original camera film (negative) is developed and copied to a one-light workprint (positive) for editing with a mechanical editing machine. An edge code is recorded onto film to locate the position of picture frames. Since the development of editing software such as Final Cut Pro or Avid, the film workflow is used by very few productions.

2. In the video workflow, the original camera negative is developed and telecined to video for editing with computer editing software. A timecode is recorded onto video tape to locate the position of picture frames. Production sound is also synced up to the video picture frames during this process.

The first job of the film editor is to build a rough cut taken from sequences (or scenes) based on individual "takes" (shots). The purpose of the rough cut is to select and order the best shots. The next step is to create a fine cut by getting all the shots to flow smoothly in a seamless story. Trimming, the process of shortening scenes by a few minutes, seconds, or even frames, is done during this phase. After the fine cut has been screened and approved by the director and producer the picture is "locked," meaning no further changes are made. Next, the editor creates a negative cut list (using edge code) or an edit decision list (using timecode) either manually or automatically. These edit lists identify the source and the picture frame of each shot in the fine cut.

Once the picture is locked, the film passes out of the hands of the editor to the sound department to build-up the sound track. The voice recordings are synchronised and the final sound mix is created. The sound mix combines sound effects, background sounds, ADR, dialogue, walla, and music.

The sound track and picture are combined together, resulting in a low quality answer print of the movie. There are now two possible workflows to create the high quality release print depending on the recording medium:

 * 1) In the film workflow, the cut list that describes the film-based answer print is used to cut the original colour negative (OCN) and create a colour timed copy called the colour master positive or interpositive print. For all subsequent steps this effectively becomes the master copy. The next step is to create a one-light copy called the colour duplicate negative or internegative. It is from this that many copies of the final theatrical release print are made. Copying from the internegative is much simpler than copying from the interpositive directly because it is a one-light process; it also reduces wear-and-tear on the interpositive print.
 * 2) In the video workflow, the edit decision list that describes the video-based answer print is used to edit the original colour tape (OCT) and create a high quality colour master tape. For all subsequent steps this effectively becomes the master copy. The next step uses a film recorder to read the colour master tape and copy each video frame directly to film to create the final theatrical release print.

Finally the film is previewed, normally by the target audience, and any feedback may result in further shooting or edits to the film.

Distribution
In distribution, the movie is released to cinemas or, occasionally, to DVD, VCD or VHS (though VHSs are less common now that more people own DVD players). The movie is duplicated as required for theatrical distribution. Press kits, posters, and other advertising materials are published and the movie is advertised.

The movie will usually be launched with a launch party, press releases, interviews with the press, showings of the film at a press preview, and/or film festivals. It is also common to create a website to accompany the movie. The movie will play at selected cinemas and the DVD is typically released a few months later. The distribution rights for the movie and DVD are also usually sold for worldwide distribution. Any profits are divided between the distributor and the production company.

Independent filmmaking
Filmmaking also takes place outside of the studio system and is commonly called independent filmmaking. Since the introduction of DV technology, the means of production have become more democratized. Filmmakers can conceivably shoot and edit a movie, create and edit the sound and music, and mix the final cut on a home computer. However, while the means of production may be democratized, financing, distribution, and marketing remain difficult to accomplish outside the traditional system. Most independent filmmakers rely on film festivals to get their films noticed and sold for distribution. However, the Internet has allowed for relatively inexpensive distribution of independent films; many filmmakers post their films online for critique and recognition. Although there is little profitability in this, a filmmaker can still gain exposure via the web.

Next | Theory

title: Movie Making Manual/Introduction


text:
Adventist Youth Honors Answer Book/First aid/Altitude sickness

Altitude sickness can begin in susceptible people at elevations as low as. The early symptoms are drowsiness, feeling unwell, and weakness, especially during exercise. More severe symptoms are headache, poor sleep, persistent rapid pulse, nausea and sometimes vomiting, especially in children. More severe symptoms include pulmonary edema (fluid in the lungs; persistent coughing), confusion, psychosis, hallucination and death.

Victims can sometimes control mild altitude sickness by consciously taking ten to twelve rapid large breaths every five minutes. If overdone, this can blow off too much carbon dioxide and cause tingling in the extremities of the body. The quickest cure is to reduce the victim's altitude if possible. Some mountain rescue groups carry acetazolamide (a prescription drug) to treat mountain sickness, injectable steroids to reduce pulmonary edema, and inflatable pressure vessels to relieve and evacuate severe mountain-sick persons.

Altitude acclimatization has two stages. Overnight, the body can adjust its carbonic acid balance, and substantially improve its performance. Over four to six weeks, the body can grow more blood cells, strengthen the heart and make other tissue changes. Above, further altitude exposure weakens, rather than strengthening one's acclimation.

/Overlapping requirements

license: Creative Commons - Attribution Share-Alike - https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/


text:
Chess Opening Theory/1. e4/1...e5/2. Nf3/2...Nc6/3. Bb5/3...a6/4. Bxc6

= Ruy Lopez, Exchange Variation = White decides they don't want to risk having their Bishop trapped on the queenside, and exchanges it with black's Knight. Black's only good move is 4...dxc6, as 4...bxc6?! leaves white with a small advantage.

Theory table
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 * 1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bb5 a6 4.Bxc6


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Talk:Control Systems/MATLAB

I will try to post a few screen shots as time permits of Octave ...--Billymac00 03:29, 26 December 2006 (UTC)

wikicommons
various screenshots are at wikicommons as follows:
 * Bode
 * Nyquist
 * step response
 * root locus
 * impulse response

I added ones specific to the example used on the page however (Octave 3.8.2) (only about 8 years delayed !)--Billymac00 (discuss • contribs) 00:14, 19 January 2015 (UTC)

title: Talk:Control Systems/MATLAB


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Toki Pona/ModOne

Phonology
Toki Pona is a language of very minimal sounds, in order to be easily pronounced by the greatest number of people. Its consonants lack voicing, gemination, and clusters, while vowels are only monophthongs and do not register length.

Vowels
In Toki Pona, you use the same five vowels, but they have only one strict pronunciation, similar to Spanish or Japanese vowels.

Consonants
Excluding j, the phonetic sounds of the nine consonants used in Toki Pona are the same as English, and there is flexibility in how one can pronounce it.

title: Toki Pona/ModOne


text:
Adventist Youth Honors Answer Book/Edible Wild Plants/Morel mushrooms

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Adventist Youth Honors Answer Book/Edible Wild Plants/Sulphur shelf

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Adventist Youth Honors Answer Book/Edible Wild Plants/Puffball Mushrooms

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Category:Subject:Miscellaneous

hy:Կատեգորիա:Զանազան ko:분류:기타

title: Category:Subject:Miscellaneous


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Wikibooks talk:What is Wikibooks/Unstable/Archive

Unstable version created
I sometimes prefer DocumentMode to ThreadMode, so I created this unstable version of the WB:WIW policy that anyone can edit. This is because the WB:WIW policy is enforced; we cannot make drastic changes there unless we have community consensus, but we can make drastic changes here.

Want to propose a change? See something wrong? Be bold and edit the document. I chose to call it "unstable" to indicate the difference between this page and the policy. Eventually we will decide whether we want to merge any changes back to the policy. --Kernigh 03:15, 4 May 2006 (UTC)

 * I wish this had been done with the game guide policy change first, and yes, I do like what you've done here. This page (WB:WIW) is the most often quoted page for the VfD discussions and unfortunately does need to read more like a constitution, hence the many sections and going into depth where common sense really should prevail.  And unfortunately this had to be expanded because there are objections and real-world experience that requires us to be very explicit to some new users and to Wikipedia deletionists who want to move Wikipedia content here to this project.  --Rob Horning 16:09, 5 May 2006 (UTC)

Wikibooks:Inclusion criteria/Proposal
I have made a proposal for an alternative text for WB:WIW on Wikibooks:Inclusion_criteria/Proposal, which takes a fundamentally different (and more positive) approach to the current wording and the wording in this unstable version. I would very much welcome comments on that text, with a view towards making this live in the next few weeks. Kind regards, Jguk 20:18, 18 June 2006 (UTC)

Missing Sections
There are a number of specific clauses and caveats from the original WB:WIW that are missing from this rewrite, that (i think) really must be included in some way or another. For instance, the NPOV clause, the Soapbox clause, the Original Research clause (although this is touched on under the "invented" restriction, but i dont think that covers as much ground). I appreciate that much of the material is better then it was (more positive, definately). but we can't leave out important rules like that. --Whiteknight (talk) (projects) 13:04, 29 June 2006 (UTC)

 * This proposal is not intended to replace WB:NPOV, or indeed to cover similar topics (although they are both content-related ideas). To deal with your point, I suggest adding a "see also" or "related policies" section at the end to refer to it. (We also have other content-related policies, eg no copyvios, that could also be linked to in this way.)

 * A diatribe is not a textbook - so I don't think we need a separate soapbox clause to deal with the mischief (also a diatribe is likely to conflict with the separate WB:NPOV policy).

 * The "invented" restriction is meant to cut out original research. Maybe it could be tweaked to better reflect this, Jguk 13:33, 29 June 2006 (UTC)

 * I've made this amendment in the light of your comments, Jguk 13:40, 29 June 2006 (UTC)

 * I like the admendments that you have made here, although I still think that the Soapbox clause needs to be stated directly. Don't forget that there are certainly courses taught at seminaries that preach about the benefits of one religion or another. A textbook on a religion is acceptable, but we need to point out that a "why you should learn to love my god/goddess/flying spaghetti monster" is unacceptable. --Whiteknight (talk) (projects) 17:20, 29 June 2006 (UTC)

 * The current "soapbox clause" in WB:WIW bars propaganda, advocacy, personal essays, advertising and self promotion. Of that, propaganda and advocacy are, to my mind, already blocked by WB:NPOV. (I note that the wording of WB:WIW associates advocacy with propaganda and so needs to be interpreted in that sense - otherwise we'd ban almost everything (having a book on learning French by itself advocates that French is a worthy subject to study).)

 * This leaves personal essays (which aren't textbooks, so fail that criterion), advertising (explicitly blocked by 1.3(e) of the proposal) and self promotion (the textbook and/or advertisiing criteria are likely to block this).

 * As all the parts of the current "soapbox clause" are blocked by other provisions, I do not see a need to be explicit about it in this policy, although I do think that perhaps a separate interpretation page might be a good idea (it could include Rob Horning's suggested guidance on how-to books and games books as well). By this I mean - keep policies short and simple, although allow official guidance on how to apply it to certain circumstances as well.

 * Incidentally, I don't see any problem with a book that would help people develop their religious and spiritual beliefs. We have, as one of our larger and better books, the Adventist Youth Honors Answer Book. To my mind that sort of book is entirely within our remit - and so would textbooks on how to be a good Catholic, Anglican, Presbyterian, Shi'ite, Sunni, Jew, or whatever. Religious proselytising should be banned from Wikibooks - but to my mind already NPOV captures that, Jguk 16:11, 30 June 2006 (UTC)

Objection to Heavy Mention of Textbook-only for Wikibooks
I've argued this point at several places, including the Staff Lounge and the WB:WIW talk page.

The main point was that for some time Wikibooks had a clause "As a general rule, any book you might expect to find in the non-fiction section of your local library or bookshop is acceptable."

Jimbo, without any commentary or input from the user community, changed this clause and caused a major debate over the future of Wikibooks. In addition, dispite statements by Jimbo that this was a community driven process, some individuals with admin privileges have been pushing as if Wikibooks was only for textbooks, and even invented a fiction that Wikibooks had always been just textbooks.

Going back to the original rule that was stated above, I really do believe that most reasonable, citable, and conforming to NPOV standards, GFDL, and other exclusions non-fiction material could be added to Wikibooks, as long as it is going to be a book. Not a textbook, but simply a publishable book in some future form. Wikibooks is about writing larger content that would not be appropriate for Wikipedia primarily due to length and in-depth focus of the material.

With all of the comments in this inclusion criteria, I think I could imagine expanding a Wikipedia article on Wikibooks that wouldn't necessarily fit with a traditional view of what is a textbook. In addition, the very definition of a textbook is missing here, and if this is going to be used as a policy guide to say that one particular group of text is acceptable and another is not, an arbitrary "this is not a textbook" is simply tyranny and very subjective. And as attested by the fact that huge swaths of content have been removed from Wikibooks in the past few months, this is also a very significant policy change, not merely a tweaking of existing policies.

I'm not saying that this viewpoint that Wikibooks should only be for textbooks is a bad idea by itself, but it is a major change in direction for the project and ignoring the efforts of many individuals in the past. I'm also saying that by codifying that Wikibooks is only for textbooks, as this policy page does, it sets a very different tone for participation in Wikibooks. This inclusion criteria pushes that textbook-only attitude much more than has been present in the previous policy.

I am noting that this is still a controversial element, and something that should not be ignored. And that any future Wikibookians should be made aware that Wikibooks wasn't always this anal about sticking with a strictly accredited college course-specific textbook as the comparitor to content on this website. --Rob Horning 16:56, 30 June 2006 (UTC)

 * As an analogy, Wikipedia is strictly for the creation of encyclopedia articals that are actually fit for inclusion in an encyclopedia. This does not mean that many people have not expended their energy at that project to create materials that were not suitable, and therefore had their hard work removed. I agree with you in spirit: I don't think it's a good idea to limit wikibooks to simply textbooks for accredited or respected institutions. However, I am highly disinclined to disobey a direct order from Jimbo, regardless of whether or not his order was the result of a democratic process, or a community concensus. I would like it if wikibooks followed the old guidelines that you are talking about, however I will not fight it if we must follow these "new" guidelines. And maybe I am not getting as worked up about this issue because I spend most of my time working on projects that strictly are textbooks. If Jimbo came in here, and with a wave of his hand declared wikibooks was not for science and engineering topics, maybe I would throw a fit of my own. At any rate, as far as i am capable, I empathize, but I cannot in good conscience work to promote a policy change (or perhaps a policy "revert") that could possibly bring bad to our project. Change Jimbo's mind on this, and I will throw my full support behind it. --Whiteknight (talk) (projects) 17:17, 30 June 2006 (UTC)

 * I could quote Jimbo here where he says that he is not changing policy, but that would be a futile effort. I think on this issue it would be better to go back to the hows and whys of what started Wikibooks in the first place, and I would admit that textbooks were a major focus of the discussions.  The problem I see is that some individuals acting as administrators are violating at least the spirit of Deletion policy that strongly encouraging concensus with the community before content is deleted.  To quote some points that seem to be violated right now:
 * As a general rule, don't delete pages you nominate for deletion if there are a number of comments in favour of keeping. Let someone else do it.
 * Use common sense and respect the judgment and feelings of other Wikibooks participants.
 * When in doubt, don't delete.
 * Instead, content is being deleted in a wonton fashion without regards to objections by users. This is flat out wrong and has changed the character of Wikibooks.  I see this inclusion criteria to be used as a tool to do further damage to Wikibooks, and a reason why I am raising my voice concerning the points expressed here, particularly in regards to this policy discussion on this page.  Or most importantly a part of the deletion policy that is also forgotten:  "Be friendly! Everyone was new once."  Can we get that sort of spirit into this inclusion criteria?
 * In addition, I find that the "new" guidelines are incredibly ambiguous that have been espoused by Jimbo, and I have yet to see a reasonable definition of a textbook that can be used as rationale for deleting Wikibooks content.  Saying something is "not a textbook" as the justification for deletion is so subjective that I don't know where to begin.  But I also don't want to get into wheel warring with other admins if they start to remove content of that nature.  Perhaps maybe I should.
 * BTW, you might want to read w:Wikipedia:What Wikipedia is not to see why people are adding the kinds of content, including video game walkthroughs, onto Wikibooks. Apparently Wikipedia thinks they belong here as a matter of policy.  I'm really surprised that Jimbo hasn't changed this page (although I think he may be too timid to be that bold on Wikipedia).  --Rob Horning 17:20, 4 July 2006 (UTC)

I've made this amendment to that Wikipedia policy, together with commenting on the talk page. We'll have to see if it holds, or if it generates further discussion.

In response to Rob (mostly his initial comments), I'd like to say that I agree that everything that meets the "accredited instution" metric is suitable for Wikibooks. My version of wording this metric is as follows:

 * A textbook is....

 * a is a book which is actually usable in an existing class.

 * That class may be at school, college, university, a professional training centre or an adult education centre. We would expect the subject to be taught in a number of learning institutions, one in the whole world is not enough

However, I do not believe that Wikibooks' content should be restricted just to content that meets that metric. That is why I added the additional bit saying that our content includes:

 * ...book[s] written in a similar style to books usable in existing classes and which is about a subject worthy of study

 * Some topics worthy of study are not taught in formal classes. However, it is still possible to have an instructional textbook about them.

It would be useful if Rob could indicate whether he agrees with this formulation, and if he does not, how he would formulate a definition of what this inclusion criterion should be.

I would also like to add that I believe it is liberating and less restrictive to not attempt to define "textbook". We all have a general idea of what one is. Any definition is likely to restrict this, and to reduce our flexibility, and I don't really think it would be useful to try to come up with a definition, Jguk 20:52, 4 July 2006 (UTC)

Duplicate policy
From WB:WIW: "Since the word textbook is somewhat open to interpretation, this document exists to help clarify which types of content are acceptable for Wikibooks" That aside, I think we are much better off defining what a Wikibook is, rather than defining textbook in a way that fits the scope of this project. The latter is only prone to lead us astray in semantics if we clash against a colloquial understanding of "textbook".

Defining "Wikibook" will keep us focused on the specific purpose of this project alongside its sister projects and force our arguments to center on what type of material is fitting for inclusion. I think we should rather use the word "textbook" in WB:WIW as an explanation, not a definition. But, either way, we already have a definition of what wikibooks is. --Swift 02:18, 23 September 2006 (UTC)

 * In general, I think the difference here is unnecessary. If we say "wikibooks is for the creation of open-content electronic textbooks", that statement alone challenges the normal definition of a what a textbook is to make the difference between normal textbooks and our textbooks obvious. However, if people want to change the word, that's find with me too, I think of it as a non-issue. --Whiteknight (talk) (projects) 22:58, 24 September 2006 (UTC)

 * A non-issue, yes. But in the sense that is a question, not so much of substance, but of semantics ... which becomes an issue in definitions.
 * But as I said; either way, the definition already exists on WB:WIW. --Swift 05:31, 25 September 2006 (UTC)

 * I disagree, I don't think this is duplicate material. WB:WIW states that wikibooks is for "textbooks", but never goes on to define specifically what that word means. WB:WIW does, however, describe a bunch of things that can be here, and a bunch of things that cannot, but the word "textbook" remains unambiguous. If people would like to reject this page and instead expand the explanations on WB:WIW, that would be acceptable too. --Whiteknight (talk) (projects) 11:34, 25 September 2006 (UTC)

 * but never goes on to define specifically what that word means. Exactly. And this proposal doesn't define it either but, just as WB:WIW, only lists what-it-is-and-isn't. Therefore, I see it a duplicate.
 * I think we should, if only for simplicity's sake, rather make WIW more clear and the one stop for understanding what a wikibook is. --Swift 18:47, 25 September 2006 (UTC)

 * Fair enough, I can understand your reasoning for that. I say that we do a few things:
 * use this proposal page as a scratch pad to gather our ideas
 * Come up with consensus on this proposal
 * Merge the text of this page into WB:WIW
 * That way we don't need to work on rewording WB:WIW directly (which I'm sure will ruffle a few feathers), and we can still work towards clarity. --Whiteknight (talk) (projects) 20:51, 25 September 2006 (UTC)

 * Good suggestion. I'm not sure, though, that we can merge any really good ideas with WIW without ruffling feathers... Brainstorming and trying out some approaches for size would be good. Do you want to wait till some specific week to properly involve the community, or might it be better to start now in paralell and advertise it in the Lounge just to get some ideas going (as this will probably take much longer than a week!). --Swift 03:08, 26 September 2006 (UTC)

I was reasonably certain that this proposal had been advertised in staff lounge. If you would like to advertise it again, that would be fine by me. I think it would be very good for the community to get this proposal settled once and for all, regardless of whether the final policy resides here or on WIW. --Whiteknight (talk) (projects) 12:12, 26 September 2006 (UTC)

 * Yup, it was announced there when I started it... if there's nothing more to add to it, maybe we could propose a merger with WIW, and get it done.
 * I had hoped to figure out what's to be done on both the video-game guides and the new batch of religious books first though. I'm pretty sure the former is pretty much a moot discussion (kind of a Jimbo fait d'accompli), the religion texts need some more careful scrutiny, because it requires some pondering on the meaning of NPOV. -- SB_Johnny | talk 13:19, 26 September 2006 (UTC)

 * Yeah, unfortunately there is never a moment when there is only one issue to be resolved around here. It seems like everytime we start a new project, 10 more demand our attention. The videogame guides I don't see as a pressing problem, I have been taking a Laissez-faire approach to that issue, because it seems that many of the guides are migrating away from here of their own volition. The religion texts I am also inclined to view with lieniency because it is my experiance that the people who most want to talk about religion are the people least capable of writing with perfect NPOV. Just because it isnt perfect doesnt mean it can't improve, and I am inclined to post warnings, but let those texts improve. That said, a precise definition of "textbook" here could settle both those issues. --Whiteknight (talk) (projects) 14:25, 26 September 2006 (UTC)

Merged
Wikibooks:Textbook and Wikibooks:Inclusion_criteria have now both been merged into this proposed policy as a result of my query on the staff lounge. This should make it easier for the community to work together to update this policy, rather then dividing efforts. --dark lama  16:54, 27 November 2006 (UTC)

Further edits
I've made some amendments, which I hope will be seen as improvements. I do think this unstable version is much better than the original - I hope it can go live in the not too distant future. Jguk 21:50, 17 December 2006 (UTC)

I think some changes were improvements and some things weren't. I think your changes removed some clarity and facts:
 * Even though dictionaries, thesaurus, books of quotations, etc. are books that may be useful for learning, they don't belong here.
 * Wikibooks isn't the place to upload books and works of literature, they can only be used as part of annotated texts.

I'll try to make some improvements of my own. --dark lama  23:02, 17 December 2006 (UTC)

"Ownership" section
I understand the desire to include a section on "Ownership", but I dont think this is the correct place to do it, and I will vote against this new version so long as that section remains in this text. WIW is supposed to be a note about what wikibooks is, and what kinds of content are appropriate. This is not the place to start discussing behavioral issues. If we want to have a large, over-arching behavior policy "Wikibooks:How to act at wikibooks", or something, we can have that, but this isnt the place to discuss behavior. I won't remove that section myself, but I don't think it should be here. --Whiteknight (talk) (projects) 01:03, 18 December 2006 (UTC)

I wasn't looking to make it a behavior police by having it here, so it may need some rework, rather to address who owns contributed contents. --dark lama  01:25, 18 December 2006 (UTC)

 * A thought about ownership here, and something missing from the section in this version of the policy: People who add content to Wikibooks really do own copyright over everything that they add.  Ownership in this sense is entirely correct that people do "own" the words that they write, and they are free to reuse and copy that content which they used in any way they want to.  In fact, they "own" it and can even sell it for a profit under a propritary copyright license (or no license at all).  By contributing to Wikibooks the only stipulation is that you have "granted" a license to that content under the terms of the GFDL.  I know this is a technical distinction, but it is something that is important never the less.
 * Still, there is a tendancy for people to become very attached to something they have worked hard and long on, and to then see it get modified, edited, or even deleted to then get very upset over those who do that modification. This is a natural response, even if modifying the content is explicitly granted under the GFDL.  There is also an unwritten rule (at least until this policy becomes official) that by adding the content to Wikibooks that you are allowing the content "to be edited mercilessly and redistributed at will" by other people.
 * In software engineering terms, this is akin to what is called "egoless programming", and is a radical concept in terms of collaborative authorship. While most of you who are reading this are likely to be familiar with this general idea, it is important to remember how much of a change this is over traditional forms of authorship.  You do "own" the words, but you don't really have control over how they will be manipulated and changed.  Now on how to explain that more clearly..... ---Rob Horning 18:40, 19 December 2006 (UTC)

 * The issue of becoming attached to work contributed to a book and not wishing for it to be be edited without mercy and issue of wanting to control the contents of the book are what I'm trying to address, without resorting to addressing specific behaviors and to make clear the distinction between traditional forms of authorship and what is used here. For now I've combined the Ownership and Censorship sections since I think they deal with a similar issue, but I agree need to find a clearer way to explain it. --dark [[Image:Yin yang.svg|12px]] lama 19:51, 19 December 2006 (UTC)

General Opinions about this policy
I would like to air a few opinions of mine here, as this seems to be the most active policy discussion, and simultaneously the policy discussion that has the potential to have one of the biggest affects on our project for some time to come. At stake, essentially, is our ability to formally define what the wikibooks project is all about, something that has only been poorly defined (or completely undefined) in the past. There are alot of points in this policy that have always been policy, but have been similarly ill-defined. Some of these concepts, such as "No Original Research" or "Neutral Point of View" are central to the Wikimedia way of doing business and will not be changed/removed, but which are open to some reinterpretation.

On an auxiliary note, I'm of the opinion that we would benefit from having more policy documents that are all shorter and more precise then we are having a few monolithic policy documents. It would be better, I think, to have this policy lay down the most basic and broad rules for our site, and refer to other, smaller policy documents to clarify the details. For instance, this policy could say "Wikibooks is for textbooks", and then point a link to Textbooks to fill in the details. Of course, I'm not going to vote against this policy because of a nitpick in the document's structure, but it is something that i would like people to put some attention into. --Whiteknight (talk) (projects) 21:14, 19 December 2006 (UTC)

Move to Enforce
I propose we move the current text of this proposal to policy, in lieu of the current text at WB:WIW. There are a number of changes, clarifications, and simplifications in this version, and I think they will be a benefit to this community to have them. --Whiteknight (talk) (projects) 19:29, 20 December 2006 (UTC)

 * Support – I support moving of the [ current] text of this proposal to being an official policy. There are many changes that clarify what is current practise, while trying to not draw a line too much, which I think will make it useful to the community for quite some time. --dark [[Image:Yin yang.svg|12px]] lama 23:43, 20 December 2006 (UTC)

 * Support --- Ah, who am I kidding. A couple of minor issues here and there, but I'd much rather have this in place of the current WB:WIW, even with those issues. --Dragontamer 21:50, 22 December 2006 (UTC)

 * Move to re-start — I realise that my recent edits have significantly changed the policy, though I hope that they have neither changed the original intent nor the current scope of Wikibooks. On the contrary, I hope that they have more precisely defined what is appropriate at Wikibooks, so as to provide helpful interpretive tools with which to eliminate confusion. Put another way, I do not intend to make last-minute behind-the-scenes changes while everyone is away for the holidays. I therefore move for this current discussion process to end with no decision made, and a new movement to enforcement be made when people (including me) work out their issues with my recent additions. Cheers, Iamunknown 06:29, 26 December 2006 (UTC)

 * Oppose --- While I like the direction this is going, I think there are some important but missing sections that the older policy still covers. See discussion below for specifics.  --Rob Horning 14:38, 27 December 2006 (UTC)

Closed. I agree with User:Iamunknown. There have been a number of changes to this policy since this motion was started, and I think there are plenty of changes yet to be made. We can move to enforce this one again latter, when the proposal is more stable. --Whiteknight (talk) (projects) 02:24, 3 January 2007 (UTC)

Motion to discussion and form concensus on each section seperately.
I propose we try to organize this discussion better, by discussion only one section at a time and try to get concensus on that one section before moving on to another section of this prososal. That way any issues with a specific section can be dealt with in turn. --dark lama  05:49, 28 December 2006 (UTC)

"Final Word" clause
There was one previously, but it appears to have been removed. I want to reinstitute the "final word" clause into this document. Wikibooks policy and guidelines are fragmented, as in it is distributed among multiple documents. It is very possible for one policy to disagree with another policy. Considering the amount of change that has happened in terms of policy recently, and considering the massive age disparities between some of our newest and some of our oldest policy documents, I think it's important that we have something that is the "final word", that is something that trumps any other document in the event of a contradiction. I propose therefore the addition of the following text (barring revision) to the "Enforcement" section of this policy:
 * Any clause in a policy or guideline on the English Wikibooks that contradicts this policy is null and void.

I think this is an important addition. --Whiteknight (talk) (projects) 02:31, 3 January 2007 (UTC)

Best to change it to Any policy or guideline on the English Wikibooks, approved before this one, that contradicts it will be null and void on the conflicting point(s) and should be marked for revision., since we rarely (I can't remember once) did vote a police clause/point by point. This should probably be added not only to this policy but to any policy we adopt/change in the future, this should cover all bases. --Panic 02:39, 3 January 2007 (UTC)

 * I dont think we need to specify only policies that are approved beforehand. We could very easily approve a new policy that contradicts this one, and we still need some kind of final authority when a contradiction occurs. --Whiteknight (talk) (projects) 03:59, 3 January 2007 (UTC)

 * So... The changes I propose to the phrase clearly state that only the points in conflict will be void (as in the ones that should be fallowed are on the present policy), that's basically the same as in you proposal, the change also states priority, the last approved changes/policy will have an higher priority. (the last text discussed and approved might if conflicts arise be taken as the final word of the community, it goes even further proposing for a new discussion on that specific problematic point, I can't see how more complete it can be made.) --Panic 04:11, 3 January 2007 (UTC)

DISCUSSION MOVED TO Staff lounge as proposal named "Final Word" clause (proposal) --Panic 05:15, 3 January 2007 (UTC)

Wikibooks community
The wikibooks community (our members, our policies/guidelines, and our methods) are defined by our mission to produce open-content textbooks. Every rule, every guideline, every page and every process should be examined by asking "how does this help us to create textbooks?" If something doesnt help towards the mission (and I would allow for things that help indirectly) it should be considered in violation of this policy. I think that such a mention should be included here: that all pages, not just textbook content, must satisfy the requirements of this content. We may also want to include some specifications here about the kinds of acceptable meta content (talk/discussion pages, a certain level of bureaucracy, and the fact that wikibooks is not a general-purpose discussion forum). --Whiteknight (talk) (projects) 23:44, 28 January 2007 (UTC)

 * I have added this text: http://en.wikibooks.org/w/index.php?title=Wikibooks%3AWhat_is_Wikibooks%2FUnstable&diff=735419&oldid=735417
 * We can remove this if people don't want it, or we can rewrite it if we need to. I do think it's an important point to make though, and I think this is the best place to make it. --Whiteknight (talk) (projects) 00:25, 29 January 2007 (UTC)


text:
Taxation in the United Kingdom/Legislation/Section 148 of the Finance Act 2003

A company has a permanent establishment in a territory if, and only if :
 * it has a fixed place of business there through which the business of the company is wholly or partly carried on, or
 * an agent acting on behalf of the company has and habitually exercises there authority to do business on behalf of the company.

For this purpose a "fixed place of business" includes:
 * a place of management;
 * a branch;
 * an office;
 * a factory;
 * a workshop;
 * an installation or structure for the exploration of natural resources;
 * a mine, an oil or gas well, a quarry or any other place of extraction of natural resources;
 * a building site or construction or installation project.

A company is not regarded as having a permanent establishment in a territory by reason of the fact that it carries on business there through an agent of independent status acting in the ordinary course of his business. Also, a company is not regarded as having a permanent establishment in a territory by reason of the fact that:
 * a fixed place of business is maintained there for the purpose of carrying on activities for the company, or
 * an agent carries on activities there for and on behalf of the company,

if, in relation to the business of the company as a whole, the activities carried on are only of a preparatory or auxiliary character, which is taken to include:

 * the use of facilities for the purpose of storage, display or delivery of goods or merchandise belonging to the company;
 * the maintenance of a stock of goods or merchandise belonging to the company for the purpose of storage, display or delivery;
 * the maintenance of a stock of goods or merchandise belonging to the company for the purpose of processing by another person;
 * purchasing goods or merchandise, or collecting information, for the company.


text:
Wikibooks:Reading room/Bulletin Board/2006

New logo
There is a new logo in the offing for Wikibooks. Please check out the link for details and maybe make your feelings known. It will feature in the next Gazette. If you didn't get the first one do sign up or ask someone to do it for you.

Check this out
I have a outline for a new Wikibook on the Middle East. Please provide feedback on what you think about this possible Wikibook. Here it is: User:Tannersf/The Middle East - outline

Policy Proposals
Two new policy proposals are reaching maturity, and motions have been started to make the proposals official policy here at Wikibooks. These proposals are located at:

 * What is Wikibooks/Unstable
 * Decision making/Unstable

All wikibookians are encouraged to read the text of the proposals, and voice their opinions on the respective talk pages.

Checkuser Nominations
Two users have been nominated on WB:RFA for Checkuser rights, Herbythyme (talk | email | contribs | [ logs ] ) and SBJohnny (talk | email | contribs | [ logs ] ). Both nominations were put forward by User:Herbythyme, because the tools are needed for controlling vandalism without unintentionally blocking good-faith contributors. The rules require there to be 25 votes in favour to grants these rights so everyone's vote really does count.

New Bureaucrat
User:Withinfocus has been promoted to the status of bureaucrat by User:Derbeth. This brings the number of currently active bureaucrats to three, along with User:Whiteknight. Bureaucrats are admins who can promote other admins.

What is Wikibooks?
A new draft version of the What is Wikibooks policy is in the works. The new draft, found at What is Wikibooks/Unstable contains a number of changes from the original policy, including better wording, more clarity, and a collection of new rules that have been accepted by the community in preceding months.

This policy (WIW, for short) is one of the most important policies on wikibooks, frequently serving as the "final word" in disputes. People who are interested in Wikibooks policy should consider reading over the new draft, and providing opinions/questions/comments/suggestions.

Wikibooks gazette
The first installment of the wikibooks newsletter, "the wikibooks gazette" has been sent to over 60 active wikibookians. The list of active wikibookians (and simultaneously the subscription list for the newsletter) is located at Active wikibookians. Users can add themselves to this list, or they can add other users who have been active. If users are no longer active, they can be removed from the list.

The first issue of the newsletter was distributed by User:The Staff, using a semi-automated bot program written by User:Whiteknight. User:The Staff currently does not have the bot flag, so all the newsletter deliveries are visible in the RC list.

Ownership Policy
In response to recent events, a new policy proposal, Ownership has been drafted. This new policy discusses module ownership, and how people cannot exercise any sort of control over a module, simply by virtue of being an active contributor.

All wikibookians are encouraged to read this proposal, and give opinions about it on the associated talk page.

Policy Changes
Some old policy proposals have been dealt with in the last week:
 * Profanity was moved to {{policy}}. This policy restricts the use of inappropriate language, especially in page titles and usernames.
 * Semi-protection policy was moved to {{obsolete}}, because all the points in that policy are already covered by Protected page.

Several other policy proposals have been nominated for change:
 * Dispute resolution has been nominated for rejection because it has been superseded by Decision making.
 * Guidelines for class projects has been nominated to become {{Policy}}.
 * Be bold Has been nominated to become {{policy}} because it is already a de facto staple of our project.

All wikibookians are encouraged to view these pages, and leave comments on the associated talk pages.

Votes for Deletion
At present there are quite a number of "open" Votes for Deletion. They cover a wide range of subjects and the consideration and voting of any editors is encouraged. This is an important process by which we try and maintain the high standards of Wikibooks. Please go and look and preferably vote here

Nominations
Two other users have also been nominated on WB:RFA, Withinfocus ( talk | email | contribs ) has been nominated for bureaucratship, and Xania ( talk | email | contribs ) received community approval and is now an administrator. Both nominations were put forward by User:Herbythyme.

New Administrators
Several new admins have recently been approved by the community: All of these admins are active helpers who are valuable members of the wikibooks community. Also, a number of new templates have been created to add some color to the RFA process.
 * User:Swift
 * User:Kellen
 * User:Darklama
 * User:Herbythyme
 * User:Xania

Page Edits Bot
User:Whiteknight has created a page-editing bot, User:Wknight8111, and has received community approval for the bot flag. The bot can perform tasks on multiple pages: Ask User:Whiteknight if you would like the bot to help with your project.
 * Add categories to pages
 * Add header/footer templates, and page navigation
 * Convert HTML to Wiki markup
 * Alter the text of pages in other ways

Class Projects
Wikibooks is looking to improve the experience of the large class and group projects that use our server to collaboratively write texts. New class projects, especially the project leaders should read the Guidelines for class projects page. Also, all new class projects (and even the active old projects) should list themselves on List of class projects. This way, the Wikibooks community can get involved with these projects.

Notification of nominations for Bureaucrats
This is to notify the community that I have made two nominations for bureaucrats. It would be appreciated if you would express your views on the relevant section of WB:RFA. Thanks -- Herby talk thyme 13:04, 20 November 2006 (UTC)

Transwiki and Special:Import
The Special:Import page has been activated by the developers so that we can easily import transwiki material from wikipedia. The importation process is cleaner then copy+paste, and it preserves the original page history.

Due to the effectiveness of this new policy, a new proposal has been drafted to govern it's use at:
 * Transwiki Rules

A motion has also been started to get the Transwiki: prefix turned into a full namespace.

Policy
The movement to improve Wikibooks' policy cannon is still in full swing, and a number of policy proposals have been decided upon recently. Also, the community has been acting on a "Proposal of the week", in an attempt to act on some of the old proposals that have never been decided on.
 * 1) Decision making Official Guideline
 * 2) Administrators Official Policy
 * 3) Be civil Official Policy
 * 4) Talk page Rejected
 * 5) Title pages Rejected

Policy Templates
User:Swift has been busy reorganizing and redesigning the various templates and categories used with wikibook's policies. The templates used now are {{rejected}}, {{obsolete}}, {{proposed}}, {{policy}}, and {{guideline}}.

De-adminship votes
Due to the new text of Administrators, several old administrators who have been absent for a year or more from the project have been nominated for de-adminship here. The first round of admins will be de-sysopped by 1 November

Book-wide search
New link appears in toolbox when browsing books. "Search this book" link leads to external Google search site allowing searching within the current book.

13 September 2006
I created a script written in Perl that helps with creating print versions of books. Details on Wikibooks:Print versions page.

2 July 2006
A trademark notice similar to one at Wikipedia has been added to Wikibooks footer. The Wikimedia Foundation has suggested informing that Wikipedia, Wikibooks and other project names are registered trademarks.

15 May 2006
Wikibooks has 14,398 book modules.

"Statistics per Wikibook" from 10 May 2006
Read it at http://stats.wikimedia.org/wikibooks/EN/Wikibooks_EN.htm

The largest five "books" were:
 * 1) Programming (contains multiple books...)
 * 2) Wikiversity (contains multiple books...)
 * 3) False Friends of the Slavist
 * 4) Wikibooks Pokédex (but we plan to move it off Wikibooks)
 * 5) Radiation Oncology

Cookbook statistics are missing because that book now uses a separate namespace. As for the other books, much work remains to convert them to the current Naming policy...

3 May 2006
Wikibooks has 14,357 book modules.

Wikibooks on deletion spree
We at Wikibooks are deleting a lot of content, especially old abandoned content that appears not to be part of a textbook. We are also building a list of books that we might want to remove from Wikibooks as we reconsider the scope of the project.

Help participate in this effort. Visit these pages:
 * Votes for deletion – several listings recently added
 * Books possibly in contravention with WIW

Wikisource abolishes reference material, source code
From Wikisource:News/2006-05-02/Recent vote ends excluding reference material: ''As another step towards developing Wikisource's infrastructure, a recent vote sought to amend the project's inclusion policy to exclude all reference material (such as tables of information or source code) from the Wikisource. The vote, begun on April 11 and ended on April 27, received 8 votes to exclude, 1 neutral vote, and no votes to include. ... Wikisource's roughly 200 pages of reference material will slowly be phased out over the following months.''

Interestingly, the list of pages to delete includes Astronomical events, a collection of charts deleted from Wikibooks because there were duplicate copies at Wikibooks and Wikisource.

28 April 2006
New proposed policy in Policies and guidelines: General voting rules.

27 April 2006
I added some JavaScript from Wikipedia to our MediaWiki:Monobook.js. As result, there is a new redirect button in editbox toolbar.

If you want to adopt any features from Wikipedia to Wikibooks, write in Staff lounge. --Derbeth talk 09:11, 27 April 2006 (UTC)

26 April 2006
Two templates have appeared in Template messages/Media namespace: audio-nohelp and listen. If you write a language book, remember that Wikimedia Commons hosts a lot of pronunciation audio recordings. See Category:Pronunciation.

24 April 2006
Wikibooks has 14,276 book modules.

Local CheckUser status in doubt
Upon the Requests for adminship page, an election for or against CheckUser statuses has continued for more than three months. Two candidates, Derbeth and Uncle G, have tried since 4 January 2006 to obtain the ability to check the Internet addresses of alleged sockpuppets and vandals. Derbeth currently has 18 votes for and 3 against. Uncle G has 14 votes for and 1 against. Though this looks good, the Wikimedia Foundation requires at least 25 affirmative votes.

Pathoschild describes the analogous problem in a news story from Wikisource News: "It is hoped that these will allow more rapid, efficient, and informed checks than is available from the generic Request for CheckUser information page on the Meta-Wiki. ... Despite prior assurances from steward Datrio, it seems likely that the 25-support rule will be strictly enforced over Wikisource's request." Wikisource is a sister project of Wikibooks, and Pathoschild and Zhaladshar are the local candidates there.

In addition, Uncle G has not actually edited Wikibooks since 3 February 2006 – more than two months ago.

However, broad support is forming around a proposal to allow wikis to borrow CheckUser users from other wikis. This proposal would allow the English-language editions of both Wikibooks and Wikisource to borrow two experienced CheckUsers from their sister project Wikipedia. This would require votes, but the 25-support rule would not apply.

However, the situation is set to deny CheckUser status to Derbeth, Uncle G, Pathoschild, and Zhaladshar, even though they all enjoy broad support. This has the potential to create bad feelings, accusations that the Wikimedia community favors Wikipedia, and questions from users who trust the local candidates. As mitigating factors, the process of borrowing CheckUsers is completely optional, and CheckUser is mostly about the Privacy policy, not about the content of local projects.

Potential consensus to remove computer and video game guides
Some users, including Wikimedia Foundation President, Jimbo Wales, have announced that Wikibooks has banned all computer and video game books. Actually, it has not happened yet. For now, these walkthroughs, references, and guides remain part of Wikibooks. This appears to be a continuation of the process requested by Jimbo last year (see the 13 November 2005 entry below).

However, a consensus most probably is forming. There is no consensus on how to actually move the guides, but one method would apply a policy change to stop the creation of new computer and video game books, then existing Wikibooks would move outside the Wikimedia Foundation. StrategyWiki, a MediaWiki under the GNU Free Documentation License, is particular well positioned to receive most or all of the guides: they already have a plan to import guides from Wikibooks.

A rumour has also spread that that the computer and video game guides violate the charter of the Wikimedia Foundation, but no one has actually cited the charter nor explained the violation.

Some users also suggest that how-to guides, books about sports and other games, and Puzzles will also be deleted.

10 April 2006
The servers of Wikibooks and all Wikimedia projects were down from about 19:14, 9 April 2006, to 01:38, 10 April 2006. We are back now, and ready to continue to grow.

21 February 2006
Wikibooks has been cited as an authoritative source of information. Who would have thought that was possible?

The Philidelphia Inquirer has published a major article about Wikibooks and what sorts of things we are doing here, with specific mention of the FHSST involvement on Wikibooks.

Ars Technica has even become one site to announce a new Wikibook, becoming a significant event by itself that is newsworthy. A new Wikibook being newsworthy?

12 February 2006
Vote for proposal of naming policy has started. This is an important issue so please visit vote page.

26 January 2006
We have special bot useful for changing books naming convention: User:tsca.bot. If you don't want to move many pages manually, add an entry to bot's task list.

8 January 2006
Two new templates: cleanup-NC for books needing naming convention change and cleanup-link for books being not linked.

4 January 2006
CheckUser elections have started. We need vote of as many users as possible, so please visit the RFA page.


text:
Chess Opening Theory/1. e4/1...e5/2. Nf3/2...Nc6/3. Bb5/3...a6/4. Bxc6/4...dxc6

= Ruy Lopez, Exchange Variation = In order to attack the e5 pawn, White must first protect themself against the Qd4 threat (everyone must be aware that /5. Nxe5/ only will give white disadvantage.).
 * /5. Nc3/ is an option but probably not the best, and anyway not the most active.
 * /5. O-O/ is a much more subtle way to defend against the pawn capture, as after Nxe5 Qd4 Nf3 Qxe4, White can capture the queen with Re1 (the Black Queen is pinned because it protects the king).
 * /5. d4/ is a way to break the center and solve matters in blood. But this variation does not seem to get good results for White.

Theory table
.
 * 1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bb5 a6 4. Bxc6 dxc6


text:
User talk:Babafain6

Hello and welcome to Wikibooks!

Here are some tips to help you get started:
 * You should sign your name on Talk and vote pages using four tildes, like this: ~~~~.
 * Remember to conduct any editing experiments in the sandbox.
 * If you're a Wikipedian, see Wikibooks for Wikipedians for a primer on how things work here (it's a little different).
 * If you want to base your work here on materials from Wikipedia, please use WB:RFI to bring the material over in compliance with the GFDL.
 * If you're an instructor and plan on using wikibooks for a class project, see Guidelines for class projects
 * Please say hello at the Staff Lounge with any questions or ideas.
 * Eventually, you might want to read the Manual of Style and Policies and Guidelines.
 * Please take a look at Naming policy before starting a new book.
 * Remember to maintain a Neutral point of view.
 * Explore, be bold in editing pages, and have fun!

You will find more resources in Community Portal. If you want to ask a question, visit the Study help desk, the Staff lounge, IRC channel or ask me personally on my talk page. For site news, see the Bulletin board. It might be an idea if you add this page to your "watchlist" so that you can see when any new information is posted there.

Good luck! -- Herby talk thyme 13:19, 26 December 2006 (UTC)

title: User talk:Babafain6


text:
User talk:Ezra Katz

Hello Hi, Mr.katz its joseph my username is nimmo

you soft
This is Chris and my username is CFIndestructible

hi this is patrick and my user name is product

hey mr.katz!!!
hi mr.katz this is the one and only rhydiah and my user name is JOHNZ WIFEY

Hey Mr. Katz,

My username is Felicia000.

title: User talk:Ezra Katz


text: Template:Learning the vi Editor/set

title: Template:Learning the vi Editor/set


text:
User talk:Left92

Hello and welcome to Wikibooks!

Here are some tips to help you get started:
 * You should sign your name on Talk and vote pages using four tildes, like this: ~~~~.
 * Remember to conduct any editing experiments in the sandbox.
 * If you're a Wikipedian, see Wikibooks for Wikipedians for a primer on how things work here (it's a little different).
 * If you want to base your work here on materials from Wikipedia, please use WB:RFI to bring the material over in compliance with the GFDL.
 * If you're an instructor and plan on using wikibooks for a class project, see Guidelines for class projects
 * Please say hello at the Staff Lounge with any questions or ideas.
 * Eventually, you might want to read the Manual of Style and Policies and Guidelines.
 * Please take a look at Naming policy before starting a new book.
 * Remember to maintain a Neutral point of view.
 * Explore, be bold in editing pages, and have fun!

You will find more resources in Community Portal. If you want to ask a question, visit the Study help desk, the Staff lounge, IRC channel or ask me personally on my talk page. For site news, see the Bulletin board. It might be an idea if you add this page to your "watchlist" so that you can see when any new information is posted there.

Good luck! -- Herby talk thyme 13:21, 26 December 2006 (UTC)

title: User talk:Left92


text:
User:Celestianpower/Spanish/Lesson 3/Exercises

Welcome to the exercises related to lesson 3 of ¡Aprovéchalo! The answers can be found here.

Articles

 * Translate the following from Spanish into English.
 * Unas niñas
 * Los hombres
 * Unos hombres
 * Las niñas
 * Un niño
 * El niño
 * La mujer
 * Una mujer

 * Translate the following from English into Spanish.
 * The women
 * Some men
 * The boy
 * The girls
 * Some girls
 * A man
 * Some boys
 * A girl

 * Which of the following nouns are masculine?
 * Los chicos
 * Unas niñas
 * El gato
 * La manzana
 * Unas uñas
 * Un perro
 * Las mesas
 * Unas cosas

Regular verbs

 * The following are conjugated verb forms; what person are they?
 * Lloro
 * Cocináis
 * Tenemos
 * Hablan
 * Compro
 * Abrazas
 * llevo
 * Vivimos

 * Conjugate the following verbs for the person indicated.
 * Cocinar; they
 * Comer; she
 * Amar; we
 * Tener; I
 * Hablar; you singular
 * Temer; I
 * Comer; you plural
 * Vivir; he

Questions and Exclamations
Translate the following questions from English into Spanish, or visa versa.
 * 1) ¿Cuántos años tienes?
 * 2) Why do they cry?
 * 3) ¿Cómo te llamas?
 * 4) Where do they live?
 * 5) ¿Qué comes?
 * 6) What's his name?
 * 7) ¿Dónde vivís?
 * 8) How old are you lot?


text:
Chess Opening Theory/1. e4/1...e5/2. Nf3/2...Nc6/3. Bb5/3...a6/4. Bxc6/4...dxc6/5. d4

= Ruy Lopez: Exchange Variation = Against this move, Black should play /5...exd4/, as he shouldn't allow White to play Nxe5 or dxe5 which would favor White.

Theory table
.
 * 1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bb5 a6 4.Bxc6 dxc6 5.d4


text:
User:Celestianpower/Spanish/Lesson 3/Exercises/Answers

Articles

 * Some girls
 * The men
 * Some men
 * The girls
 * A boy
 * The boy
 * The woman
 * A woman

 * Translate the following from English into Spanish.
 * Las mujeres
 * Unos hombres
 * El niño
 * Las niñas
 * Unas niñas
 * Un hombre
 * Unos niños
 * Una niña

 * Which of the following nouns are masculine?
 * Los chicos
 * El gato
 * Un perro

Regular verbs

 * I
 * You plural
 * We
 * They
 * I
 * You singular
 * I
 * We

 * Conjugate the following verbs for the person indicated.
 * Cocinan
 * Come
 * Amamos
 * Tengo
 * Hablas
 * Temo
 * Coméis
 * Vive

Questions and Exclamations

 * 1) How old are you?
 * 2) ¿Por qué lloran?
 * 3) What's your name?
 * 4) ¿Dónde viven?
 * 5) What do you eat?
 * 6) ¿Cómo se llama?
 * 7) Where do you lot live?
 * 8) ¿Cuántos años tenéis?


text:
Spanish

Continue to the Main Contents Page

Španělština Spanisch Español Hispana Enseignement de l'espagnol Španjolski jezik Spænska Spagnolo ספרדית Spaans Hiszpański/Okładka Espanhol Empecemos İspanyolca

title: Spanish


text:
Spanish/Lessons/¿Cómo te llamas?

Lesson 1 – ¿Cómo te llamas?

Dialogue

 * Juanito: ¡Hola! Me llamo Juanito. ¿Cómo te llamas?
 * Sofía: Hola, Juanito. Me llamo Sofía. ¿Cómo se escribe tu nombre?
 * Juanito: Se escribe J-U-A-N-I-T-O. ¿Qué tal?
 * Sofía: Bien. ¿Y tú?
 * Juanito: Fenomenal, gracias.
 * Sofía: ¡Qué fantástico! Adiós, Juanito.
 * Juanito: ¡Hasta luego!

Translation (wait until the end of the lesson).

Hello!

 * Notes
 * Hasta means "until"; luego means "then"; you can translate it as "see you later" or "see you soon". In the same vein, hasta mañana means "see you tomorrow".
 * Note the upside-down exclamation (¡) and question marks (¿); you will learn more about them in lesson three.

 * Examples
 * ¡Buenos días, clase!
 * Good morning, class!
 * Hola, ¿Cómo están hoy?
 * Hello, how are you today?
 * Adiós, ¡hasta luego!
 * Goodbye, see you later!

Go to the exercise.

What's your name?
To ask someone else's name in Spanish, use cómo, then one of the phrases in the table below (¿Cómo te llamas? is "What's your name?" (literally How do you call yourself?). You can also say ¿Cuál es tu nombre? Here the word “cuál” means "which one".

In Spanish, to say your name, you use the reflexive verb llamarse, which means literally to call oneself (Me llamo Juanito is "I call myself Juanito" meaning "My name is Juanito").
 * Notes
 * "Os llamáis" is only used in Spain. In Latin America, "Se llaman" is used for both the second and third plural persons.

 * Examples
 * Me llamo Juanito
 * My name is Juanito (I call myself Juanito.)
 * Se llaman Juanito y Robert
 * They're called Juanito and Robert. (They call themselves Juanito and Robert.)
 * ¿Cómo te llamas?
 * What's your name? (What do you call yourself?)
 * ¿Cómo se llama?
 * What's his/her name? (What does he/she call him/herself?)

Go to the exercise.

Simple vocabulary
For some of the words above, there are two options. The one ending in "o" is for males, and the one ending in "a" is for females. It's all to do with agreement, which is covered in future chapters.
 * Notes

Also, there are cultural differences in how people respond to "How are you?". In the U.S., we might answer "mal" if we have a headache, or we're having a bad hair day. In Spanish-speaking cultures, "mal" would be used if a family member were very ill, or somebody lost their job. Similarly, "fatal" in the U.S. might mean a ruined manicure or a fight with one´s girlfriend, but would be reserved more for things like losing one's home in a Spanish-speaking country.

Expressing "you are welcome" is more formal in Costa Rica than in other countries. Con mucho gusto is formal. Gusto is less formal. De nada, in some areas is considered slightly insulting and should not be used.

Examples
 * Juanito: Hola, Rosa. ¿Qué tal?
 * Hello, Rosa. How are you?
 * Rosa: Muy bien, gracias. ¿Y tú, Juanito?
 * Very well, thanks. And you, Juanito?
 * Juanito: Bien también. ¡Hasta luego!
 * I'm good too. See you later!

Go to the exercise.

The Spanish alphabet
Here is the traditional Spanish alphabet. The current Spanish alphabet is made up of the letters with numbers above them, and is also sorted in that order. Please read the notes and sections below. (Blue and red letters are a part of the normal English alphabet).

Consonants
Although the above will help you understand, proper pronunciation of Spanish consonants is a bit more complicated:

Most of the consonants are pronounced as they are in American English with these exceptions:
 * b like the English b at the start of a word and after m or n, (IPA: /b/). Elsewhere in a word, especially between vowels, it is softer, often like a blend between English v and b. (IPA: /β/ or /b/)
 * c before i and e like English th in "think" (in Latin America it is like English s) (European IPA: /θ/; Latin American IPA: /s/)
 * c before a, o, u and other consonants, like English k (IPA: /k/)
 * The same sound for e and i is written like que and qui, where the u is silent (IPA: /ke/ and /ki/).

 * ch like ch in “cheese” (IPA: /tʃ/)
 * d at the start of a word and after n, like English d in "under" (IPA: /d/)
 * d between vowels (even if these vowels belong to different words) similar to English th in "mother" (IPA: /ð/); at the end of words like "universidad" you may hear a similar sound, too.
 * g before e or i, like ch in "Chanukah" or "Challah" (IPA: /x/)
 * g before a, o, u, like g in “get” (IPA: /g/)
 * The same sound for e and i is written like gue and gui, where the u is silent (IPA: /ge/ and /gi/). If the word needs the u to be pronounced, you write it with a diaeresis e.g. pingüino, lengüeta.

 * h is always silent, except in the digraph ch and some very rare loan words, such as hip hop. So the Central American state of Honduras is pronounced exactly the same is if it were spelled “Onduras”: (IPA: /onˈduɾas/, [õn̪ˈd̪uɾas])
 * j like the h in hotel, or like the Scottish pronunciation of ch in "loch" (IPA: /h/ or /x/)
 * ll is pronounced like gli in Italian "famiglia," or as English y in “yes” (IPA: /ʎ/)
 * In some Latin American countries, ll is pronounced differently. For instance, in Argentina, ll is pronounced like s in English "vision" (IPA: /ʒ/); in Chile, ll is pronounced like sh in English "shoe" (IPA: /ʃ/)

 * ñ like nio in “onion” (or gn in French "cognac" or Italian "gnocchi") (IPA: /ɲ/)
 * q like the English k; occurs only before ue or ui (IPA: /k/)
 * r at the beginning of a word; after l, n, or s; or when doubled (rr), it is pronounced as a full trill (IPA: /r/), elsewhere it is a single-tap trill (IPA: /ɾ/)
 * v is pronounced like the softer form of the Spanish b. (IPA: /b/)
 * x is pronounced much like an English x, except a little more softly, and often more like gs. (IPA: /ks/)
 * z like the English th (in Latin America, like the English s) (European IPA: /θ/; Latin American IPA: /s/)

Vowels
The pronunciation of vowels is as follows:

The "u" is always silent after a g or a q (as in "qué" pronounced keh).
 * a [a] "La mano" as in "Kahn" (ah)
 * e [e] "Mente" as in "hen" (eh)
 * i [i] "Sin" as the ea in "lean" (e)
 * o [o] "Como" as in "more" (without the following 'r')
 * u [u] "Lunes" as in "toon" or "loom" (oo)

Spanish also uses the ¨ (diaeresis) diacritic mark over the vowel u to indicate that it is pronounced separately in places where it would normally be silent. For example, in words such as vergüenza ("shame") or pingüino ("penguin"), the u is pronounced as in the English "w" and so forms a diphthong with the following vowel: [we] and [wi] respectively. It is also used to preserve sound in stem changes and in commands: averiguar (to research) -  averigüemos (let's research).

The y [ʝ] "Reyes" is similar to the y of "yet", but more voiced (in some parts of Latin America it is pronounced as s in "vision" [ʒ] or sh in "flash" [ʃ]) At the end of a word or when it means "and" ("y") it is pronounced like i.

Word stress and acute accents
Spanish words ending in a consonant other than n or s are stressed on the last syllable: paRED (wall), efiCAZ (effective). Words ending in a vowel, n, or s are stressed on the next to the last syllable: TEcho (roof), desCANso (rest). Words which break either of the above rules must have an accent mark (´, the acute accent) indicating the stressed syllable: anDÉN (platform), haBLÓ (he spoke), pájaro (bird).

The same letters, pronounced with stress on a different syllable, can constitute a different word. For example, the word ánimo, with stress on the first syllable, is a noun meaning "mood" or "spirit." Animo, with stressed on ni, is a verb meaning "I cheer." And animó is stressed on mó is a verb meaning "he cheered."

Monosyllables do not need accent marks – there is no need to mark the stressed syllable. However, the accent mark is used to distinguish between homographs, which are different words written with the same letters: sí (yes), si (if); tú (you, subject pronoun), tu (your, possessive adjective), él (he/him) & el (the). It is used on interrogative words, distinguishing them from in relative pronoun pairs: cómo (how?) & como (as), dónde (where?) & donde (where).

How do you spell that?

 * Examples
 * Juanito: Buenos días. Me llamo Juanito. ¿Cómo te llamas?
 * Good day. My name is Juanito. What's your name?
 * Roberto: Hola. Me llamo Roberto. ¿Cómo se escribe Juanito?
 * Hello. I'm Robert. How do you spell Juanito?
 * Juanito: Se escribe J (Jota); U (U); A (A); N (ene); I (i); T (te); O (o).

Go to the exercise.

Summary
In this lesson, you have learned You should now do the exercise related to each section (found here), and translate the dialogue at the top before moving on to lesson 2...
 * How to greet people (Hola; buenos días; adiós).
 * How to introduce yourself (Me llamo Juanito).
 * How to introduce others (Se llama Roberto).
 * How to say how you are (Fenomenal; fatal; bien).
 * How to spell your name (Se escribe J-U-A-N-I-T-O).
 * How to ask others about any of the above (¿Cómo te llamas?; ¿Cómo estás?; ¿Cómo se escribe?).
 * The Spanish Alphabet and how letters are pronounced.

Drill the words covered in this lesson with this Flashcard Exchange deck.

Enseignement de l'espagnol/Leçon 1

title: Spanish/Lessons/¿Cómo te llamas?


text:
Spanish/Exercises/¿Cómo te llamas?

Welcome to the exercises related to lesson 1 of ¡Aprovéchalo!

Click "▼" to check your answers.

Hello!
What greeting would you use...

Please note that "día" is a masculine word, thus we say Buenos días. "Tarde" and "Noche" are feminine words and so we use Buenas before them.

What's your name?
Translate the following Spanish sentences into English:

Translate the following English sentences into Spanish:

How are you?
Rank the following words from one to five (one being the best, five being the worst).

How do you spell that?
Put the following letters in Spanish alphabetical order. Pronounce them as you do so.

Dialogue
Try translating the following dialogue from the top of the ¿Cómo te llamas? lesson page:

Next steps

 * If you would like, review this lesson: ¿Cómo te llamas?
 * Otherwise, continue to the next lesson: ¿Cuándo es tu cumpleaños?

title: Spanish/Exercises/¿Cómo te llamas?


text:
Spanish/Answers/¿Cómo te llamas?

Dialogue

 * ''Raúl: Hello! I'm Raúl. What's your name?
 * ''Sofía: Hi Raúl, I'm Sofía. How do you spell Raúl?
 * ''Raúl: It's spelt R-A-Ú-L. How are you?
 * ''Sofía: Well. And yourself?
 * ''Raúl: Doing great, thanks.
 * ''Sofía: How fantastic! Goodbye!
 * ''Raúl: See you later.

Hello!
como te llamas
 * 1) Buenas tardes
 * 2) Buenas mañanas
 * 3) Buenos días
 * 4) Buenas noches

What's your name?

 * 1) My name is natasha
 * 2) What are your names?
 * 3) We are Peter and Carl.
 * 4) What are they called?

 * 1) Se llama Sally.
 * 2) ¿Cómo te llamas?
 * 3) Se llama Raúl.
 * 4) Me llamo Santiago (James in English).

How are you?

 * 1) Fantástico
 * 2) Muy bien
 * 3) Bien
 * 4) Mal
 * 5) Fatal

How do you spell that?

 * A
 * D
 * N
 * Ñ
 * Q
 * R
 * RR
 * S

title: Spanish/Answers/¿Cómo te llamas?


text:
Spanish/Lessons/Introducción a la gramática

Lesson 3 — Introducción a la gramática

Articles
As in many languages, every noun in Spanish has a gender: it is either masculine or feminine. For example, gato ("cat") is masculine and mesa (table) is feminine. Almost all nouns ending in -o are masculine, most words ending in -a are feminine. The gender of unliving things is arbitrary and must be memorized, or looked up. Do not try to figure out what is "feminine" about the word mesa; it doesn't work that way.

In English we have two types of articles: the definite article ("the") and the indefinite article ("a" or "an"). Spanish does too, but there are 4 forms of each, depending on the number and gender of the noun.

Indefinite articles
When we want to turn a noun into plural, we follow these rules:

 * If the noun ends in a vowel add -s Example: un gato (a cat); unos gatos - (some cats).
 * If the noun ends in a consonant add -es. Example: el papel (the sheet of paper); los papeles (the sheets of paper).

Fortunately, the gender of Spanish nouns is usually pretty easy to work out. Some very simple rules-of-thumb: There are some exceptions though, but you will learn these as you attain new vocabulary.
 * If a noun ends in a, it's likely to be feminine. Example: bolsa (bag).
 * If it ends in o, or a consonant, it's likely to be masculine. Examples: libro (book), móvil (mobile phone).

Go to the exercises.

Regular Verbs
We have already seen the present tense conjugations of two Spanish verbs, llamarse and tener. However, tener (to have) is an irregular verb. Luckily, many verbs follow an easy to understand conjugation scheme.

In Spanish, the conjugation of a regular verb depends on the ending of its infinitive. (The infinitive is the basic form of the verb that you find in the dictionary; for example, English infinitives are always written with to, like the verbs to run or to speak.) All Spanish infinitives end in the letter r, and the three regular conjugation patterns are classified into -ar, -er, and -ir verbs.

Unlike English, Spanish verbs conjugate depending on the person; that is, they change depending on who is being talked about. This occurs in the English verb to be (e.g. I am, you are, he is, etc.) but in Spanish this occurs for all persons in all verbs. As a result, pronouns are usually omitted because they can be inferred from the conjugation.

 * The pronouns

Spanish distinguishes between the singular you (informal tú, formal usted) and the plural you (informal vosotros, formal ustedes). Both tú and vosotros have their own conjugation patterns; usted follows the same pattern as él/ella and ustedes follows the same pattern as ellos.

In Latin America, vosotros is almost unheard of, and ustedes is exclusively used instead.

Nosotros (we) has a feminine nosotras that is used when the entire group is composed of females. Likewise, vosotros and ellos have feminine forms vosotras and ellas.

 * The Present Tense in English

 * The Present Tense in Spanish

 * More examples:
 * Llorar ("to cry"): lloro, lloras, llora, lloramos, lloráis, lloran
 * Cocinar ("to cook"): cocino, cocinas, cocina, cocinamos, cocináis, cocinan

 * Beber ("to drink"): bebo, bebes, bebe, bebemos, bebéis, beben
 * Comer ("to eat"): como, comes, come, comemos, coméis, comen
 * Deber ("to ought to do, to owe"): debo, debes, debe, debemos, debéis, deben
 * Leer ("to read"): leo, lees, lee, leemos, leéis, leen

 * Asistir ("to attend"): asisto, asistes, asiste, asistimos, asistís, asisten
 * Cubrir ("to cover"): cubro, cubres, cubre, cubrimos, cubrís, cubren
 * Escribir ("to write"): escribo, escribes, escribe, escribimos, escribís, escriben
 * Vivir ("to live"): vivo, vives, vive, vivimos, vivís, viven

 * Notes
 * There are many more "-ar" verbs than "-er" or "-ir". Make sure you are most familiar with these endings.
 * The second person plural is highlighted because that tense is only used in the variety of Spanish used in Spain. In other Spanish dialects the third person plural form is used instead.
 * When reading texts, you will need to know the person of the verb at a glance. Notice the pattern:
 * "O" denotes I
 * "S" denotes You
 * A vowel that is not "O" denotes He/She/It
 * "MOS" denotes We
 * "IS" denotes You All
 * "N" denotes They

Go to the exercises.

Questions and exclamations
In previous lessons, you will have noticed that we used an upside-down question mark "¿". In Spanish, questions always begin with it, finishing with the usual question mark. It is the same for exclamations; the upside-down exclamation mark "¡" precedes exclamations. Spanish is the only language with these two inverted characters.

This happens because Spanish does not reverse the word order to ask a question. While English says You are here / Are you here?, Spanish keeps the same order: Tú estás aquí / ¿Tú estás aquí? Whereas the English word order alerts you from the beginning that what you are going to read is a question, Spanish offers no such initial warning. To compensate for this, Spanish adds the initial question mark, so that you'll always be able to tell a declarative statement from a question from the moment you begin reading it.

Questions in Spanish are mainly done by intonation (raising the voice at the end of the question), since questions are often identical to statements. Te llamas Richard means "Your name is Richard", and ¿Te llamas Richard? means "Is your name Richard?".

You can also use question words, as indicated below.

 * Examples
 * ¿Con quién?
 * With whom?
 * ¿Dónde está el banco?
 * Where is the bank?
 * ¿Cuándo es tu cumpleaños?
 * When's your birthday?
 * ¿Qué fecha es hoy?
 * What is the date today?

 * Notes

 * If you refer to a group of people, you can use the plural quiénes.

 * Cuánto and cuántos have feminine forms cuánta and cuántas.

 * The archaic cúyo was used in place of de quién. You may still find it in books from the early 20th century. Outside of questions, the corresponding pronoun cuyo is still used to mean whose in declarative statements. (Feminine cuya; plural cuyos; feminine plural cuyas; this pronoun's number and gender agree with that which is possessed, not the possessor.)

 * Cuán is gradually becoming archaic and being replaced by qué tan.

Go to the exercises.

Summary
In this lesson, you have learned: You should now do the exercise related to each section (found here) before moving on. This is a very important topic for future lessons; it is important that you know it well.
 * The Spanish articles (el; la; los; las; un; una; unos; unas).
 * How to conjugate regular verbs in the present tense (lloro; comes; vive; cocinamos; bebéis; cubren).
 * How to question people and exclaim in Spanish (¿Cuántos años tienes?; ¡Qué fantástico!)

You have now completed this chapter! Return to the Contents...


text:
Spanish/Lessons/¿Cuándo es tu cumpleaños?

Lesson 2 — ¿Cuándo es tu cumpleaños?

Dialogue

 * Raúl: ¡Hola, Sofía! Me llamo Raúl. ¿Cuál es la fecha de hoy?
 * Sofía: Hola, Raúl. Hoy es el diecisiete de octubre.
 * Raúl: Muchas gracias. Mi cumpleaños es el viernes.
 * Sofía: ¡Feliz cumpleaños!
 * Raúl: Gracias. ¿Cuántos años tienes?
 * Sofía: Tengo veinte años.
 * Raúl: Vale. Adiós, Sofía.
 * Sofía: ¡Hasta luego!

Translation (wait until the end of the lesson).

Examples

 * Tengo diecisiete gatos
 * I have 17 cats.
 * Hay treinta y cinco aulas
 * There are 35 classrooms.
 * Tengo noventa y seis primos.
 * I have 96 cousins.
 * Hay once estudiantes en la clase de español.
 * There are 11 students in the spanish class.
 * ¡Quiero un caramelo!
 * I want a candy!
 * ¡Quiero uno!
 * I want one!

To declare the presence or existence of something (e.g. "there is," "there are"), Spanish uses hay, which is a special conjugation of the verb haber (to have). Its past form ("there was," "there were") is hubo. Another form in the past (meaning roughly "there used to be") is había. Its future form ("there will be") is habrá. All these forms are invariable in singular and plural: Había un gato aquí, Había dos gatos aquí. Attempting to construct plural forms of them ("habían", "habrán") is a very common error and is severely frowned upon.

Go to the exercises.

How old are you?
To ask someone else's age in Spanish, use Cuántos años, then one of the entries in the table below (¿Cuántos años tienes? means "How old are you?", or more literally, "How many years do you have?")

To say your age in Spanish, you use the irregular verb tener (which means "to have"), then your age, then años (which means "years"). For example, Tengo trece años means "I have 13 years" or "I am 13 years old".
 * Note
 * "Tenéis" would only be used in Spain. In Latin America, one would use "Tienen" for both the second and third plural persons.

 * Examples
 * Tengo veinte años
 * I am 20 years old.
 * ¿Cuántos años tienes?
 * How old are you?
 * Tiene ochenta y siete años.
 * He is 87 years old.
 * ¿Cuántos años tienen?
 * How old are they?

Go to the exercises.

What's the date today?
To ask for the date in Spanish, you use ¿Cuál es la fecha? or ¿Qué día es hoy? (meaning "What is the date?", or "What day is today?"). In reply, you would say Hoy es [day of the week], [date of the month] de [month of the year] (For example, Hoy es martes veinticinco de mayo is "Today is Tuesday, the 25th of May").

 * Notes
 * Neither days of the week nor months of the year are capitalised, unless at the beginning of sentences.
 * On the first of the month, some Spanish speakers say primero [First] (Hoy es domingo primero de enero).
 * You may still find the spelling setiembre in books from the early 20th century. It emerged from the way some countries pronounce the consonants in it. This spelling is not standard usage and you should avoid using it.

 * Examples
 * ¿Qué fecha es hoy? (¿A qué estamos? is used too.)
 * What is the date?
 * Hoy es miércoles veintinueve de septiembre.
 * Today is Wednesday, the 29th of September
 * Hoy es jueves quince de agosto.
 * Today is Thursday, the 15th of August.
 * Hoy es sábado dos de enero.
 * Today is Saturday, the 2nd of January.

Go to the exercises.

When's your birthday?
Although birthday translates as cumpleaños, they do not imply the same exact meaning. In English, birthday literally refers to the day of your birth, so it is possible to wish happy birthday to a newborn. In Spanish, cumpleaños literally means "completing a year" and is only used for the day in subsequent years that matches the date on which you were born. Thus, you would never say "feliz cumpleaños" to a newborn, since he still hasn't "completed a year."

 * Examples
 * Mi cumpleaños es el once de julio.
 * My birthday is on the 11th of July.
 * Mi cumpleaños es el ocho de diciembre.
 * My birthday is on the 8th of December.
 * ¿Cuándo es tu cumpleaños?
 * When is your birthday?
 * Mi cumpleaños es el sábado.
 * My birthday is on Saturday.

Go to the exercises.

Summary
In this lesson, you have learned: You should now do the exercise related to each section (found here), and translate the dialogue at the top before moving on to lesson 3...
 * How to count from cero to one septillion (cero; veintiocho; noventa; cien; un cuatrillón)
 * The days of the week (lunes; miércoles; viernes)
 * The months of the year (enero; abril; octubre; diciembre)
 * How to say your age (Tengo cuarenta años)
 * How to ask the age of others (¿Cuántos años tienes?)
 * How to say today's date (Hoy es jueves veintinueve de noviembre)
 * How to say your birthday (Mi cumpleaños es el primero de agosto; mi cumpleaños es el martes)
 * How to ask the birthday of others (¿Cuándo es tu cumpleaños?)


text:
Spanish/Exercises/¿Cuándo es tu cumpleaños?

Welcome to the exercises related to lesson 2 of ¡Aprovéchalo!

Click "▼" to check your answers.

The numbers
Write the following numbers using Spanish words.

How old are you?
Translate the following phrases.

What's the date today?

 * Describe the following dates in Spanish.

When's your birthday?
Say the birthday of:
 * Yourself
 * Your parent(s)
 * Two of your friends

Dialogue
Try translating the following dialogue from the top of the ¿Cuándo es tu cumpleaños? lesson page:

Next steps

 * If you would like, review this lesson: ¿Cuándo es tu cumpleaños?
 * Otherwise, continue to the next lesson: Introducción a la gramática


text:
Spanish/Exercises/Introducción a la gramática

Welcome to the exercises related to lesson 3 of ¡Aprovéchalo!

Articles

 * 1.- Translate the following from Spanish into English:

 * 2.- Translate the following from English to Spanish:

 * 3.- Are the following nouns masculine or feminine?

Regular verbs

 * 1.- The following are conjugated verb forms; what person are they?

 * 2.- Conjugate the following verbs for the person indicated.


text:
Spanish/Introduction

Book definition

 * Scope: This Wikibook aims to teach the Spanish language from scratch. It will cover all of the major grammar rules, moving slowly and offering exercises and plenty of examples. It's not all grammar though, as it offers vocabulary and phrases too, appealing to all learners.
 * Purpose: The purpose of this Wikibook is to teach you the Spanish language in an easy and accessible way. By the end, you should be able to read and write Spanish skillfully, though you'll need a human to help with listening and speaking.
 * Audience: Anyone who wishes to learn Spanish, though adult and teenage learners are likely to enjoy it more.
 * Organization: This Wikibook requires no prior knowledge of the subject, and all relevant terms are explained as they are encountered. The book runs chronologically from lesson 1 to lesson 2 to lesson 3 and so on until the end.
 * Narrative: Generally engaging and thorough, with plenty of examples and exercises to aid learning. Once concepts are introduced, they are repeated, building a base of vocabulary and grammar that will stay in your mind.
 * Style: This book is written in British English, and the Spanish taught is generally Iberian Spanish (sometimes called Castellano in Spain), though key Latin American differences are explained as we go along. The formatting is consistent throughout, with Spanish in italics and all tables using the same formatting. Each lesson begins with a conversation, including the key grammar and vocabulary in the lesson. At the end, there is a summary, explaining what has been achieved. Exercises are linked throughout, and each new concept or set of vocabulary is accompanied by examples, each with a translation underneath.

Introduction
You are about to embark on a course learning another language, the Spanish language!

The first lesson begins with simple greetings and covers important ideas of Spanish. Throughout education, methods of teaching Spanish have changed greatly. Years ago, the Spanish language was taught simply by memory. Today, however, it is taught by moving slowly and covering grammar and spelling rules.

Again, this is an introduction. If this is the first time you are attempting to learn Spanish, do not become discouraged if you cannot understand, pronounce, or memorize some of the things discussed here.

In addition, learning a second language requires a basic understanding of your own language. You may find, as you study Spanish, that you learn a lot about English as well. At their core, all languages share some simple components like verbs, nouns, adjectives, and plurals. Your first language comes naturally to you and you don't think about things like subject–verb agreement, verb conjugation, or usage of the various tenses; yet, you use these concepts on a daily basis.

While English is described as a very complicated language to learn, many of the distinguishing grammar structures have been simplified over the years. This is not true for many other languages. Following the grammatical conventions of Spanish will be very important, and can actually change the meaning of phrases. You'll see what is meant by this as you learn your first verbs estar and ser.

Do not become discouraged! You can do it. Continue to lesson 1 →

title: Spanish/Introduction