---
title: Add Language Support
slug: /developers/how-to-add-language-support
---

# How to Add Language Support

To add support for a new language in our internationalization setup using `react-i18next` and `i18next`, please follow the steps below:

## Create a Language JSON File

First, create a new JSON file for the language you want to add in the `openmetadata-ui/src/main/resources/ui/src/locale/languages` directory.

For example, if you want to add support for the `French` language, you can create a file called `fr-fr.json` in the languages directory:

```shell
# Navigate to the ui/src/locale/languages directory
cd openmetadata-ui/src/main/resources/ui/src/locale/languages

# Create the French language file
touch fr-fr.json

```

## Sync the Language File with the Primary Language

To ensure consistency with our primary language, which is `en-us`, it is necessary to synchronize any newly added language files. This can be done by copying the content from the `en-us.json` file and translating it accordingly.

To copy the contents of en-us.json and add it to your translation JSON file, follow these steps:

- Go to [en-us.json](https://github.com/open-metadata/OpenMetadata/blob/main/openmetadata-ui/src/main/resources/ui/src/locale/languages/en-us.json)
- Copy the content of file
- Open your translation JSON file.
- Paste the copied text into your translation JSON file.

You can refer to the image below for a visual guide:

{% image
src="/images/v1.6/developers/language-support.png"
alt="copy-en-us"
/%}


## How to Add Language Support for Entities Documentation

{% note %}

We have documentation for some entities on the left sidebar, and we currently support two languages: `en-US` and `fr-FR`. If you want to add support for other languages in our internationalization, you can follow the steps below.

{% /note %}

Documentation for entities resides in the `openmetadata-ui/src/main/resources/ui/src/public/locales` directory. Our primary language is `en-US`, so you can refer to it and create the same hierarchy for your language.

To add documentation in the `zh-CN` language, you can simply copy the `en-US` directory and rename it to `zh-CN`. Then, update the content of the files according to the `zh-CN` language.

To find the supported language codes, you can refer to this [page](https://github.com/open-metadata/OpenMetadata/blob/main/openmetadata-ui/src/main/resources/ui/src/utils/i18next/i18nextUtil.ts#L27-38).