lang.Translate

The lang.Translate function returns the value associated with given key as defined in the translation table for the current language.

If the key is not found in the translation table for the current language, the lang.Translate function falls back to the translation table for the defaultContentLanguage.

If the key is not found in the translation table for the defaultContentLanguage, the lang.Translate function returns an empty string.

To list missing and fallback translations, use the --printI18nWarnings flag when building your site.

To render placeholders for missing and fallback translations, set enableMissingTranslationPlaceholders to true in your site configuration.

Translation tables

Create translation tables in the i18n directory, naming each file according to RFC 5646. Translation tables may be JSON, TOML, or YAML. For example:

i18n/en.toml
i18n/en-US.toml

The base name must match the language key as defined in your site configuration.

Artificial languages with private use subtags as defined in RFC 5646 § 2.2.7 are also supported. You may omit the art-x- prefix for brevity. For example:

i18n/art-x-hugolang.toml
i18n/hugolang.toml

Private use subtags must not exceed 8 alphanumeric characters.

Simple translations

Let's say your multilingual site supports two languages, English and Polish. Create a translation table for each language in the i18n directory.

i18n/
├── en.toml
└── pl.toml

The English translation table:

privacy = 'privacy'
security = 'security'

The Polish translation table:

privacy = 'prywatność'
security = 'bezpieczeństwo'

The examples below use the T alias for brevity.

When viewing the English language site:

{{ T "privacy" }} → privacy
{{ T "security" }} → security

When viewing the Polish language site:

{{ T "privacy" }} → prywatność
{{ T "security" }} → bezpieczeństwo

Translations with pluralization

Let's say your multilingual site supports two languages, English and Polish. Create a translation table for each language in the i18n directory.

i18n/
├── en.toml
└── pl.toml

The Unicode CLDR Plural Rules chart describes the pluralization categories for each language.

The English translation table:

[day]
one = 'day'
other = 'days'

[day_with_count]
one = '{{ . }} day'
other = '{{ . }} days'

The Polish translation table:

[day]
one = 'miesiąc'
few = 'miesiące'
many = 'miesięcy'
other = 'miesiąca'

[day_with_count]
one = '{{ . }} miesiąc'
few = '{{ . }} miesiące'
many = '{{ . }} miesięcy'
other = '{{ . }} miesiąca'

The examples below use the T alias for brevity.

When viewing the English language site:

{{ T "day" 0 }} → days
{{ T "day" 1 }} → day
{{ T "day" 2 }} → days
{{ T "day" 5 }} → days

{{ T "day_with_count" 0 }} → 0 days
{{ T "day_with_count" 1 }} → 1 day
{{ T "day_with_count" 2 }} → 2 days
{{ T "day_with_count" 5 }} → 5 days

When viewing the Polish language site:

{{ T "day" 0 }} → miesięcy
{{ T "day" 1 }} → miesiąc
{{ T "day" 2 }} → miesiące
{{ T "day" 5 }} → miesięcy

{{ T "day_with_count" 0 }} → 0 miesięcy
{{ T "day_with_count" 1 }} → 1 miesiąc
{{ T "day_with_count" 2 }} → 2 miesiące
{{ T "day_with_count" 5 }} → 5 miesięcy

In the pluralization examples above, we passed an integer in context (the second argument). You can also pass a map in context, providing a count key to control pluralization.

Translation table:

[age]
one = '{{ .name }} is {{ .count }} year old.'
other = '{{ .name }} is {{ .count }} years old.'

Template code:

{{ T "age" (dict "name" "Will" "count" 1) }} → Will is 1 year old.
{{ T "age" (dict "name" "John" "count" 3) }} → John is 3 years old.

Translation tables may contain both simple translations and translations with pluralization.

Reserved keys

Hugo uses the go-i18n package to look up values in translation tables. This package reserves the following keys for internal use:

id : (string) Uniquely identifies the message.

description : (string) Describes the message to give additional context to translators that may be relevant for translation.

hash : (string) Uniquely identifies the content of the message that this message was translated from.

leftdelim : (string) The left Go template delimiter.

rightdelim : (string) The right Go template delimiter.

zero : (string) The content of the message for the CLDR plural form "zero".

one : (string) The content of the message for the CLDR plural form "one".

two : (string) The content of the message for the CLDR plural form "two".

few : (string) The content of the message for the CLDR plural form "few".

many : (string) The content of the message for the CLDR plural form "many".

other : (string) The content of the message for the CLDR plural form "other".

If you need to provide a translation for one of the reserved keys, you can prepend the word with an underscore. For example:

_description = 'descripción'
_few = 'pocos'
_many = 'muchos'
_one = 'uno'
_other = 'otro'
_two = 'dos'
_zero = 'cero'

Then in your templates:

{{ T "_description" }} → descripción
{{ T "_few" }} → pocos
{{ T "_many" }} → muchos
{{ T "_one" }} → uno
{{ T "_two" }} → dos
{{ T "_zero" }} → cero
{{ T "_other" }} → otro