How to translate i18n files

Translating i18n files is a straightforward process provided by our service. Follow these steps to translate your internationalization files and ensure consistency across your projects.

1. Upload Files: Use the "Source Files" section to upload your i18n JSON or ZIP files. If the file name contains a language code, it will be automatically used as the source language.

2. Set Source and Target Languages:
   Choose your source language (e.g., en-US). Add one or more target languages (e.g., fr-FR, de-DE), and configure translation options such as contractions, shortening, terminology, and file associations.

   Important: If you enable "Translate only new strings", the target files you upload must already contain the previously translated strings for that language (e.g., your French file should already include all old French translations). The system will then translate only the missing/untranslated strings.

   If you simply upload the same source file as the target file (which has no French content), nothing will be translated, because there’s no way to detect which strings are new vs. old.

   Note: Uploading target files is optional. If you do not upload any target files, all strings will be translated, regardless of whether "Translate only new strings" is enabled or not.

   File Naming Rules:
   If your uploaded files are not named exactly as language codes (e.g., fr.json, de.json), their names must match the source files’ names so the system knows they contain the same strings in different languages. For example:

   /en/common.json
   /fr/common.json
   /de/common.json
   

   This makes sure translations line up correctly. If the file names are different from the source file name, the system will treat them as belonging to different namespaces. In i18n, a namespace is simply a separate file used to organize strings by parts of your app (for example: common.json for general strings, auth.json for login, dashboard.json for dashboard).

   Each namespace should have a matching file in every language folder:

   /en/common.json
   /en/auth.json
   /fr/common.json
   /fr/auth.json
   

   Using the same file names for each language ensures the system can correctly match strings.

3. Start Translation: Click the "Translate" button to begin. Our service carefully manages files to preserve string order, preventing unnecessary changes. Progress is displayed in real-time.
4. Download Translated Files: After the translation is complete, click the "Download Translated Files" button to retrieve your translated content. The downloaded file is a ZIP archive named after the job ID (for example: 0196e881-fb54-7150-a292-5b1e8f70a8ae.zip). The archive contains translated files for each target language, organized into separate folders by language code.

Why our i18n translation service

• AI-powered contextual translation: Our AI intelligently interprets i18n format placeholders, and adapts translations to cultural norms based on the language, script, and region are specified in the language code.
• i18next files support: Our service ensures seamless handling of i18next format content in your JSON files. It accurately manages plural forms, preserves HTML tags, retains line breaks, and keeps the structure of your i18n JSON file.
• Locale-specific adjustments: Numbers and dates in text are automatically converted to match the target locale format.
• Error handling: We detect AI errors and retranslate if necessary, ensuring high-quality results.
• Cost-effective: Our service is more affordable than other machine translation solutions. Users receive 30,000 characters free monthly. See pricing.
• Optimized for large files: Our system efficiently processes large i18n files by dividing them into manageable chunks, ensuring each segment fits within the AI's output window. This approach maintains translation consistency by leveraging predefined terminology and context, even for large files.

Internationalization vs. Localization (i18n vs l10n)

Internationalization (i18n): This is the process of designing and preparing your application to support multiple languages and regions without requiring engineering changes. It involves abstracting text, dates, numbers, and other locale-specific elements from the codebase.

Localization (l10n): This is the process of adapting your application to a specific language and region by translating text, formatting dates and numbers, and applying cultural nuances.

While i18n lays the groundwork for supporting multiple locales, l10n customizes the experience for a specific locale.

Our platform streamlines the localization of your i18n files with advanced AI-powered translation, delivering accurate and efficient results while preserving your file structure and context. Learn more in the article: i18n vs l10n.