Add A Language To A Site

Goal: Make a second language available so pages can be translated into it.
Time: 3 minutes
You need: Super admin access

Steps

  1. Select System → Locales. This is the installation-wide list of languages that exist at all.
  2. If your language is missing, select Add Locale and register it.
  3. Now enable it for the site. Open Sites, edit the site, and go to the Locales tab.
  4. Tick the languages this site publishes in, then select Save Changes.
Locales screen listing the languages registered in the installation.
Add locale form for registering a new language in the installation.
Site settings locales tab showing enabled languages for the site.

Two Levels, On Purpose

Installation locales are the languages that exist. Site locales are the ones a particular site actually publishes in.

A multisite installation might know about five languages while the German subsidiary's site publishes in one. Registering a locale does not put it on any site; that is the second step, and it is deliberate.

Notes

  • Each site must keep at least one locale enabled, and the system default is always on. The CMS will not let you strip a site down to nothing.
  • Adding a language does not translate anything. Existing pages keep their current language and gain the option of a translation.
  • The site's first locale is its default. Visitors who ask for nothing in particular get that one.
  • This is not the same as the admin interface language, which each person sets for themselves in their profile.
Next: Translate A Page