--- title: "Adding Languages" manual: "TYPO3 Explained" version: "11.5" permalink: "https://docs.typo3.org/permalink/t3coreapi:sitehandling-addinglanguages@11.5" source: "ApiOverview/SiteHandling/AddLanguages.rst" rendered: "2026-10-21T15:30:00+00:00" --- > [!WARNING] > **Attention** > > TYPO3 v11 has reached end-of-life as of October 31th 2024 and > is no longer being maintained. Use the version switcher on the top > left of this page to select documentation for a supported version of TYPO3. > > Need more time before upgrading? > You can purchase Extended Long Term Support (ELTS) for TYPO3 v11 here: > [TYPO3 ELTS](https://typo3.com/services/extended-support-elts). # Adding Languages {#sitehandling-addinglanguages} The **Site Management > Sites** module lets you specify which languages are active for your site, which languages are available, and how they should behave. New languages for a site can also be configured in this module. When the backend shows the list of available languages, the list of languages is limited to the languages defined by the sites module. For instance, the languages are used in the page module language selector, when editing records or in the list module. The language management provides the ability to hide a language on the frontend while allowing it on the backend. This enables editors to start translating pages without them being directly live. > [!NOTE] > In case no site configuration has been created for a tree, all configured > languages are displayed. In this case the [page TSconfig options](https://docs.typo3.org/m/typo3/reference-tsconfig/11.5/en-us/PageTsconfig/Mod.html#pagemod) `mod.SHARED.defaultLanguageFlag`, > `mod.SHARED.defaultLanguageLabel` and > `mod.SHARED.disableLanguages` settings are also considered - > those are obsolete, if a site configuration exists. Language fallbacks can be configured for any language except the default one. A language fallback means that if content is not available in the current language, the content is displayed in the fallback language. This may include multiple fallback levels - for example, "Modern Chinese" might fall back to "Chinese (Traditional)", which in turn may fallback to "English". All languages can be configured separately, so you can specify different fallback chains and behaviors for each language. Example of a language configuration (excerpt): **config/sites/\/config.yaml | typo3conf/sites/\/config.yaml** ```yaml languages: - languageId: 0 title: English navigationTitle: '' base: / locale: en_GB.UTF-8 iso-639-1: en hreflang: en-US direction: ltr typo3Language: default flag: gb ``` ## Configuration properties {#sitehandling-addinglanguages-properties} - **enabled** - *Type:* bool - *Example:* `true` Defines, if the language is visible on the frontend. Editors in the TYPO3 backend will still be able to translate content for the language. - **languageId** - *Type:* integer - *Example:* `1` For the default/main language of the given site, use value `0`. For additional languages use a number greater than `0`. Every site should have at last one language configured - with `languageId: 0`. > [!WARNING] > **Attention** > > Once pages, content or records are created in a specific language, the > `languageId` must not be changed anymore. - **title** - *Type:* string - *Example:* `English` The internal human-readable name for this language. - **websiteTitle** - *Type:* string - *Example:* `My custom very British title` Overrides the global website title for this language. - **navigationTitle** - *Type:* string - *Example:* `British` Optional navigation title which is used in `HMENU.special = language`. - **base** - *Type:* string / URL - *Example:* `/uk/` The language base accepts either a URL or a path segment like `/en/`. - **baseVariants** - *Type:* array Allows different base URLs for the same language. They follow the same syntax as the [base variants](https://docs.typo3.org/permalink/t3coreapi:sitehandling-basevariants@11.5) on the root level of the site config and they get active, if the condition matches. Example: ```yaml baseVariants: - base: 'https://example.localhost/' condition: 'applicationContext == "Development"' - base: 'https://staging.example.com/' condition: 'applicationContext == "Production/Sydney"' - base: 'https://testing.example.com/' condition: 'applicationContext == "Testing/Paris"' ``` - **locale** - *Type:* string / locale - *Example:* `en_GB` The locale to use for this language. For example, it is used during frontend rendering. That locale needs to be installed on the server. In a Linux environment, you can see installed locales with `locale -a`. Multiple fallback locales can be set as a comma-separated list. TYPO3 will then iterate through the locales from left to right until it finds a locale, that is installed on the server. - **iso-639-1** - *Type:* string - *Example:* `en` The two-letter code for the language according to [ISO-639](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_ISO_639-1_codes) nomenclature. - **hreflang** - *Type:* string - *Example:* `en-GB` The frontend language for `hreflang` and `lang` tags. - **direction** - *Type:* string - *Example:* `ltr` The text direction for content in this language (left-to-right or right-to-left). - **typo3Language** - *Type:* string - *Example:* `en` Language identifier to use in TYPO3 [XLIFF files](https://docs.typo3.org/permalink/t3coreapi:xliff-api@11.5). - **flag** - *Type:* string - *Example:* `gb` The flag identifier. For example, the flag is displayed in the backend page module. - **fallbackType** - *Type:* string - *Example:* `strict` The language fallback mode, one of: - **`fallback`** Fall back to another language, if the record does not exist in the requested language. Do overlays and keep the ones that are not translated. It behaves like the old `config.sys_language_overlay = 1`. Keep the ones that are only available in default language. - **`strict`** Same as `fallback` but removes the records that are not translated. If there is no overlay, do not render the default language records, it behaves like the old `hideNonTranslated`, and include records without default translation. - **`free`** Fall back to another language, if the record does not exist in the requested language. But always fetch only records of this specific (available) language. It behaves like old `config.sys_language_overlay = 0`. - **fallbacks** - *Type:* comma-separated list of language IDs - *Example:* `1,0` The list of fallback languages. If none has a matching translation, a "pageNotFound" is thrown.