Last updated January 20, 2012. Created by juan_g on October 22, 2008.
Edited by chrisjlee, Kristen Pol, jumpbug, sylvain_a. Log in to edit this page.
You can configure a website to support more than one language or to support languages other than English (also known as a localized, internationalized or a multilingual website).
Drupal has two core modules which enable translation:
- Locale module for user interface elements (built-in system strings such as menu items, form labels, help text, and button labels such as 'Log in', 'Logout', 'Submit', 'View', 'Edit', 'Delete' etc.)
- Content translation module for site content (the actual user-created pages, stories, posts, etc. of the website)
You can extend the functionality of these modules with contributed modules for language and locale. For a proper multilingual menu system and multilingual blocks and taxonomy install Internationalization module, and read the related documentation. If you are looking for a quick start, refer to the tutorial called "Basic Internationalization setup".
You can automate translation discovery and updates with the Localization update module. Alternatively, you can also manually import an existing translation through the administration interface:
- Drupal 6: Administer > Site Building > Translate Interface > Import (
http://example.com/admin/build/translate/import) - Drupal 7: Configuration > Regional and language > Translate Interface > Import (
http://example.com/admin/config/regional/translate/import)
To quickly install an already localized version of Drupal (which currently supports over 80 languages), you can use an install profile called Localized Drupal Distribution.
For translations for Drupal core, modules and themes see http://localize.drupal.org. If you don't have a translation file for your language, you may need to translate the interface on your own. To contribute localized versions of Drupal, see Translate Drupal to your language in the Getting Involved Guide.
Drupal language-related resources
- Install Drupal in another language
- Internationalization issues (besides translation)
- Language-specific communities
- Drupal local groups directory
- Geographical groups directory
Writing code for localized modules? See the Localization API section and the Multilingual support section of the Develop for Drupal guide.
Comments
Cannot add a language
I enabled the locale Module and the content translation module on D7 website.
But still when I click on Languages to add a language, nothing happens.
Maybe I did something wrong during the installation. Don't know.
But I should be able to make my site multilingual? right?
What language did you try to
What language did you try to add?
Can you explain what steps you did exactly (what buttons and paths) when you say "But still when I click on Languages to add a language, nothing happens."
Usually there is no problem with adding additional languages.
Multilingual sites
Hello,
We are using drupal 7 core with locale, i18n, language switcher and language icon module. At the start of our website development we had kept Vietnamese as the default language and were not using i18n option. Now we need to make the site available in English as well. We have following questions for it:
1) How can I change the domain/ prefix without breaking the existing urls for VI language as we have already existing content for VI? Please describe the steps to be followed.
2) When we set session language detection, what are the steps to follow so that the menu links or other links are using parameter (?language='en' or ?language='vi') as per the selection?
3) Is there anything else that has to be done or not done for these kind of changes?
Thank you in advance.
Best Regards,
Sucheta
Can you please explain your
Can you please explain your first question better? How do you like to show your links? I mean how do you like to show your languages links?
I love Drupal CMS