WordPress in your Language
WordPressPublished May 5, 2010 at 8:15 am 1 CommentEverybody knows that WordPress displays in U.S. English by default, What not everybody knows, in fact, is that the software has the built-in capability to be used in any language. The WordPress community has already translated WordPress into many languages, and there are Themes, translation files, and support available in many other languages. It is also possible to create a multilingual blog with the help of Plugins.
Introduction
If you want to use WordPress in another language, you must do the following (Find the detailed procedure here):
- Find the appropriate .mo language file. If you are looking for the Spanish file, I put the links at the end of this post.
This file contains all the “chains” of text needed to translate both, the Admin UI and the Users UI (your blog itself presented to the public). There is a corresponding .mo file for each Localization of WordPress. Check here to see what is already available in your language.
What if my language is not listed? : Well, you can also try the WordPress Language File Repository for more information)
What if my language is missing from the Language Repository? : There is a list of localization teams and localization teams currently forming, which you can check to see if a translation is in progress.
More on this, Related Resources: See Translating WordPress and I18n for WordPress Developers for more information - Upload the appropriate .mo file to your WordPress instalation.
- Modify your wp-config.php file.
- You are done!
Procedure to Configure the Locale Files in your WordPress Installation
- Download the .mo language file for your language (Click here if you want the Spanish file or see WordPress in Your Language for hints on how to find other one).
The naming convention of the .mo files is based on the ISO-639 language code (e.g. es for Spanish) followed by the ISO-3166 country code (e.g. _ES for Spain). So, the file would be called es_ES.mo, and a non-specific Spanish file would be called es.mo. Complete lists of codes can be found at (country codes) and (language codes). - Open your wp-config.php file in a text editor and search for:
define ('WPLANG', ''); - Edit this line according to the .mo file you’ve just downloaded, e.g. for the Spanish you must add:
define ('WPLANG', 'es_ES'); - Once you’ve added your language code, save the file.
- On your site server, create a new folder in your /wp-content OR /wp-includes directory called /languages.
- Upload the .mo file to the languages folder you just created.
- Upload the modified wp-config.php file into the WordPress root directory.
- Open your browser and go to your WordPress site. It should now display in the newly-installed language.
If you want to customize the translations displayed on your screen, or add translations for terms that are still displaying in English after installation, you will need to download the .po file corresponding to the .mo.mo file — see Translating WordPress for more information. You may also need to translate a few other files — see Files For Direct Translation for more information. language file you installed. Then you will need to translate additional terms and create a new
Locale Files Spanish – Español (es_ES)
- WordPress
- WordPres MU (μ)
Resources on Localization
- The Official Page at WordPress.Org Site for WordPress in Your Language.
- The Official Page at WordPress.Org Site for Installing WordPress in Your Lanaguage.
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