Zotonic uses English source messages and gettext PO catalogs for interface\ntranslations. Language configuration and selection are provided by\n In templates, use Keep source messages, message contexts, and both plural source strings literal\nso POT extraction can discover them. Preserve placeholders such as Prefer clear English source text, such as “First name” instead of “First”. When\nidentical English text needs different translations, use a stable semantic\n Templates can set a default with Adding a context creates a new catalog entry. Template lookup tries contextual\nthen contextless translations in each language before moving to the next fallback\nlanguage. This keeps existing general translations usable during migration.\nThe final fallback is the English source.<\/p>\n Contextual Erlang APIs are strict by default: they do not borrow a contextless\ntranslation, which might have a different meaning or grammatical case. The\nErlang API reference<\/a> describes\nhow to opt into the template policy.<\/p>\n The two source strings describe the English singular and plural. They do not\nlimit other languages to two forms: each PO catalog's Within one message context, use the same singular\/plural source pair consistently.\nPOT extraction reports conflicting singular\/plural definitions for the same\n Template compilation precompiles the available translated patterns. At rendering\ntime the count selects a form using the selected catalog's rule. Empty forms and\ninvalid rule results are skipped during fallback; each fallback catalog uses its\nown rule. A catalog without a usable plural header supplies no plural translations.\nTranslation reloads invalidate compiled templates.<\/p>\n See the extended trans tag<\/a> for template syntax\nand the Erlang translation API<\/a> for resolving plural\ntranslations and substituting arguments in Erlang.<\/p>","slug":"translating-interface-messages","is_protected":false,"visible_for":0,"tz":"UTC","language":["en"],"doc_source_hash":"7cf37f59b86fc57be8ea76282109054e2b672b9bf1f3b40baee96b007b5ef4c5","is_featured":false,"content_group_id":{"id":2551,"is_a":["meta","content_group"],"name":"content_group_imported_docs","title":"Imported documentation","uri":"https:\/\/zotonic.com\/id\/content_group_imported_docs"},"category_id":{"id":317,"is_a":["meta","category"],"name":"developerguide","title":"Developer guide","uri":"https:\/\/zotonic.com\/id\/developerguide"},"doc_source_path":"doc\/guides\/translations.md","publication_start":"2026-11-02T11:36:17Z","github_url":"https:\/\/github.com\/zotonic\/zotonic\/blob\/master\/doc\/guides\/translations.md","pivot_location_lng":null,"doc_source_kind":"guide","name":"doc_guide_translations","is_unfindable":false,"is_published":true,"pivot_geocode":null,"created":"2026-11-02T11:36:17Z","uri":null,"doc_status":"current","is_dependent":false,"publication_end":"9999-06-01T00:00:00Z","modifier_id":{"id":1,"is_a":["person"],"name":"administrator","title":"Site Administrator","uri":"https:\/\/zotonic.com\/id\/1"},"privacy":0,"doc_source_commit":"f3c6a9a2dde17cb5b121dd3e3018d9ef4b1b3943\n","creator_id":{"id":1,"is_a":["person"],"name":"administrator","title":"Site Administrator","uri":"https:\/\/zotonic.com\/id\/1"},"modified":"2026-11-09T21:40:03Z","title_slug":"translating-interface-messages"},"uri":"https:\/\/zotonic.com\/id\/3131","uri_template":"https:\/\/zotonic.com\/id\/:id","version":46,"websub":{"hub":"https:\/\/zotonic.com\/.zotonic\/websub","topic":"https:\/\/zotonic.com\/.zotonic\/websub\/topic\/3131"}},"status":"ok"}module#mod_translation<\/code><\/a>; Erlang code looks up messages through\nthe z_trans API<\/a>.<\/p>\nMark messages for translation<\/h2>\n
{_ Save _}<\/code> for a simple label, _"Save"<\/code> for a translated\nargument, or tag#trans_ext<\/code><\/a> for a message with named placeholders:<\/p>\n{% trans "Hello {name}" name=user_name %}\n{% trans "{n} item" "{n} items" n=count %}\n<\/code><\/pre>\n{name}<\/code> and\n{n}<\/code> exactly in every translation. Translate complete messages instead of\nconcatenating words: surrounding text can change word order and grammatical case.<\/p>\nChoose a message context<\/h2>\n
msgctxt<\/code>, such as “action” versus “status” for “Open”. A message context is part\nof its gettext identity, not a language or an interpolation argument.<\/p>\ntag#msgctxt<\/code><\/a>, override it inside\ntag#with_msgctxt<\/code><\/a>, or pass an explicit msgctxt<\/code> to tag#trans_ext<\/code><\/a>.\nA module's -mod_msgctxt<\/code> attribute supplies a default for its templates.\nSee template message contexts<\/a> for precedence and\nhow includes and inheritance behave. Erlang calls supply their context explicitly.<\/p>\nTranslate plural messages<\/h2>\n
Plural-Forms<\/code> header\nspecifies its own rule and number of forms. The count n<\/code> must be a non-negative\ninteger.<\/p>\nmsgid<\/code>. Give messages with different meanings distinct source text or contexts.\nUse separate complete messages for “{n} hours ago” and “in {n} hours”.<\/p>\n