Multilingual Guide

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, blocks, 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 multi-lingual 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.

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 of the Developing for Drupal guide.

Translating a site interface to different languages (Locale core module)
Translating content to different languages (Content Translation core module)
Contributed modules for language and locale
Other internationalization issues (other than translation)


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