---
title: Implement Internationalisation
summary: Implement SilverStripe's internationalisation system in your own modules.
icon: globe
---

# Implementing Internationalisation

To find out about how to assist with translating SilverStripe from a user's point of view, see the 
[Contributing Translations page](/contributing/translations).

## Set up your own module for localisation

### Collecting translatable text

As a first step, you can automatically collect all translatable text in your module through the `i18nTextCollector` 
task. See [i18n](../developer_guides/i18n#collecting-text) for more details.

### Import master files

If you don't have an account on transifex.com yet, [create a free account now](https://www.transifex.com/signup/). After 
creating a new project, you have to upload the `en.yml` master file as a new "Resource". While you can do this through 
the web interface, there's a convenient 
[commandline client](https://docs.transifex.com/client/introduction) for this 
purpose. In order to use it, set up a new `.tx/config` file in your module folder:

```yaml
[main]
host = https://www.transifex.com


[my-project.master]
file_filter = lang/<lang>.yml
source_file = lang/en.yml
source_lang = en
type = YML
```

If you don't have existing translations to import, your project is ready to go - simply point translators to the URL, have them 
sign up, and they can create languages and translations as required.

### Import existing translations

In case you have existing translations in YML format, there's a "New language" option in the web interface. 
Alternatively, use the [commandline client](https://docs.transifex.com/client/introduction).

### Export existing translations

You can download new translations in YML format through the web interface, but that can get quite tedious for more than 
a handful of translations. Again, the [commandline client](https://docs.transifex.com/client/introduction)
provides a more convenient interface here with the `tx pull` command, downloading all translations as a batch.

### Merge back existing translations

If you want to backport translations onto release branches, simply run the `tx pull` command on multiple branches. This 
assumes you're adhering to the following guidelines:

 - For significantly changed content of an entity, create a new entity key
 - For added/removed placeholders, create a new entity
 - Run the `i18nTextCollectorTask` with the `merge=true` option to avoid deleting unused entities
   (which might still be relevant in older release branches)

### Converting your language files from 2.4 PHP format to YML

The conversion from PHP format to YML is taken care of by a module called 
[i18n_yml_converter](https://github.com/chillu/i18n_yml_converter).

## Download Translations from Transifex.com

We are managing our translations through a tool called [transifex.com](https://www.transifex.com). Most modules are handled 
under the "silverstripe" user, see 
[list of translatable modules](https://www.transifex.com/user/profile/silverstripe/).

Translations need to be reviewed before being committed, which is a process that happens roughly once per month. We're 
merging back translations into all supported release branches as well as the `master` branch. The following script 
should be applied to the oldest release branch, and then merged forward into newer branches:

```bash   
tx pull

# Manually review changes through git diff, then commit
git add lang/*
git commit -m "Updated translations"
```

[notice]
You can download your work right from Transifex in order to speed up the process for your desired language.
[/notice]

## JavaScript Translations

SilverStripe also supports translating strings in JavaScript (see [i18n](/developer_guides/i18n)), but there's a 
conversion step involved in order to get those translations syncing with Transifex. Our translation files stored in 
`mymodule/javascript/lang/*.js` call `ss.i18n.addDictionary()` to add files.

```js
ss.i18n.addDictionary('de', {'MyNamespace.MyKey': 'My Translation'});
```

But Transifex only accepts structured formats like JSON.

```
{'MyNamespace.MyKey': 'My Translation'}
```

First of all, you need to create those source files in JSON, and store them in `mymodule/javascript/lang/src/*.js`. In your `.tx/config` you can configure this path as a separate master location.

```ruby
[main]
host = https://www.transifex.com

[silverstripe-mymodule.master]
file_filter = lang/<lang>.yml
source_file = lang/en.yml
source_lang = en
type = YML

[silverstripe-mymodule.master-js]
file_filter = javascript/lang/src/<lang>.js
source_file = javascript/lang/src/en.js
source_lang = en
type = KEYVALUEJSON
```

Then you can upload the source files via a normal `tx push`. Once translations come in, you need to convert the source 
files back into the JS files SilverStripe can actually read. This requires an installation of our 
[buildtools](https://github.com/silverstripe-archive/silverstripe-buildtools).

```
tx pull
(cd .. && phing -Dmodule=mymodule translation-generate-javascript-for-module)
git add javascript/lang/*
git commit -m "Updated javascript translations"
```

# Related

 * [i18n](/developer_guides/i18n/): Developer-level documentation of Silverstripe's i18n capabilities
 * [Contributing Translations](/contributing/translations): Information for translators looking to contribute translations of the SilverStripe UI.
 * [translatable](https://github.com/silverstripe/silverstripe-translatable): DataObject-interface powering the website-content translations
 * ["Translatable ModelAdmin" module](https://github.com/silverstripe-archive/silverstripe-translatablemodeladmin): An extension which allows translations of DataObjects inside ModelAdmin