diff --git a/src/wiktextract/config.py b/src/wiktextract/config.py
index 1680902aa..0f75767d1 100644
--- a/src/wiktextract/config.py
+++ b/src/wiktextract/config.py
@@ -50,6 +50,8 @@ class WiktionaryConfig:
         "ZH_PRON_TAGS",
         "analyze_templates",
         "extract_thesaurus_pages",
+        "save_ns_names",
+        "extract_ns_names",
     )
 
     def __init__(
@@ -111,6 +113,20 @@ def __init__(
         self.set_attr_from_json("ZH_PRON_TAGS", "zh_pron_tags.json")
         self.analyze_templates = True  # find templates that need pre-expand
         self.extract_thesaurus_pages = True
+        # these namespace pages will be copied from the XML dump file and
+        # saved to a SQLite db file
+        self.save_ns_names = [
+            "Main",
+            "Category",  # do we use this?
+            "Appendix",
+            "Project",
+            "Thesaurus",
+            "Module",
+            "Template",
+            "Reconstruction",
+        ]
+        # these are extracted namespaces
+        self.extract_ns_names = ["Main", "Reconstruction"]
         self.load_edition_settings()
 
     def merge_return(self, ret: CollatedErrorReturnData):
diff --git a/src/wiktextract/data/fr/config.json b/src/wiktextract/data/fr/config.json
index 91a7ba446..eb4e717c6 100644
--- a/src/wiktextract/data/fr/config.json
+++ b/src/wiktextract/data/fr/config.json
@@ -1,4 +1,6 @@
 {
   "analyze_templates": false,
-  "extract_thesaurus_pages": false
+  "extract_thesaurus_pages": false,
+  "save_ns_names": ["Main", "Template", "Module", "Conjugaison"],
+  "extract_ns_names": ["Main"]
 }
diff --git a/src/wiktextract/extractor/fr/linkage.py b/src/wiktextract/extractor/fr/linkage.py
index 77eb516bb..55e8e390d 100644
--- a/src/wiktextract/extractor/fr/linkage.py
+++ b/src/wiktextract/extractor/fr/linkage.py
@@ -70,7 +70,7 @@ def process_linkage_list(
             sense_index_text = template_or_list_node.template_parameters.get(
                 2, "0"
             )
-            if sense_index_text.isdigit():
+            if isinstance(sense_index_text, str) and sense_index_text.isdigit():
                 sense_index = int(sense_index_text)
             continue
         # sense could also be in ";" description list
diff --git a/src/wiktextract/extractor/fr/translation.py b/src/wiktextract/extractor/fr/translation.py
index 11221d04a..cdb65980f 100644
--- a/src/wiktextract/extractor/fr/translation.py
+++ b/src/wiktextract/extractor/fr/translation.py
@@ -80,9 +80,9 @@ def process_translation_templates(
         sense_parameter = template_node.template_parameters.get(1, "")
         sense_text = clean_node(wxr, None, sense_parameter)
         base_translation_data.sense = sense_text
-        base_translation_data.sense_index = int(
-            template_node.template_parameters.get(2, "0")
-        )
+        sense_index_str = template_node.template_parameters.get(2, "0")
+        if isinstance(sense_index_str, str) and sense_index_str.isdigit():
+            base_translation_data.sense_index = int(sense_index_str)
 
     elif template_node.template_name == "T":
         # Translation language: https://fr.wiktionary.org/wiki/Modèle:T
diff --git a/src/wiktextract/wiktionary.py b/src/wiktextract/wiktionary.py
index 6b6e93138..6e3c68789 100644
--- a/src/wiktextract/wiktionary.py
+++ b/src/wiktextract/wiktionary.py
@@ -184,7 +184,7 @@ def reprocess_wiktionary(
     process_ns_ids = list(
         {
             wxr.wtp.NAMESPACE_DATA.get(ns, {}).get("id", 0)
-            for ns in ["Main", "Reconstruction"]
+            for ns in wxr.config.extract_ns_names
         }
     )
     start_time = time.time()
diff --git a/src/wiktextract/wiktwords.py b/src/wiktextract/wiktwords.py
index 6a896d178..ef1702b49 100755
--- a/src/wiktextract/wiktwords.py
+++ b/src/wiktextract/wiktwords.py
@@ -45,18 +45,6 @@
 from wiktextract.wiktionary import write_json_data
 from wiktextract.wxr_context import WiktextractContext
 
-# Pages within these namespaces are captured.
-RECOGNIZED_NAMESPACE_NAMES = [
-    "Main",
-    "Category",
-    "Appendix",
-    "Project",
-    "Thesaurus",
-    "Module",
-    "Template",
-    "Reconstruction",
-]
-
 
 def process_single_page(
     path_or_title: str,
@@ -438,8 +426,8 @@ def main():
     try:
         if args.path is not None:
             namespace_ids = {
-                wxr.wtp.NAMESPACE_DATA.get(name, {}).get("id")
-                for name in RECOGNIZED_NAMESPACE_NAMES
+                wxr.wtp.NAMESPACE_DATA.get(name, {}).get("id", 0)
+                for name in wxr.config.save_ns_names
             }
             # Parse the normal full Wiktionary data dump
             parse_wiktionary(