This page describes how the template itself works. For general information about the Babel system and how it may be used to display the languages you know, see Wiktionary:Babel.
The Babel box is for displaying what languages you know and approximately how well you know them; you use it by adding, for example {{Babel|en|fr-4|de-2|ru-1}}, to your user-page, which generates the box at the right.
Each language code — en, ru, etc. — corresponds to a userbox indicating that you're a native speaker of the language. A language code with a hyphen and a number 0 through 5 — fr-2, ru-3, etc. — corresponds to a userbox indicating your approximate level of proficiency in the language. (There's no formal measure; just give your best guess. 0 means "I do not understand this language (or understand it with considerable difficulty)"; 1 means "I am able to contribute with a basic level of this language"; 2 means "I am able to contribute with an intermediate level of this language"; 3 means "I am able to contribute with an advanced level of this language"; 4 means "I speak this language at a near-native level."; and 5 means "I am able to contribute with a professional level of this language.") You might find that a userbox might not exist yet for a given language and proficiency level; if so, please feel free to ask for help in creating one.
Babel boxes may be removed by other users if it is clear that the user's claimed language proficiency levels are unsubstantiated.
Special features
Some messages have gender-specific texts, and the gender is taken from the gender you set in your preferences by default.
The - userbox leaves a userbox-sized gap — a blank row, essentially.
The ! userbox starts a new column.
The |header= parameter lets you change the text at the top of the box; likewise, |footer= lets you change the text at the bottom.
The |bordercolor= and |color= parameters let you change the CSS-specified border-color and background-color, respectively. This is not recommended, since it cannot properly support dark mode.
By default, the box floats on the right. The float parameter may be set to left to left-float it instead, or to none to leave it in the normal flow of your user-page.
So, for example, {{Babel|en|fr-4|-|!|-|de-2|ru-1|bordercolor=#993300|color=yellow|float=left|footer=[[Wiktionary:Babel]]|header=[[:Category:User languages|Search user languages]]}} produces:
