---
title: I18n
label: I18n
order: 40
desc: Manage and customize internationalization support in your CMS editor experience
keywords: internationalization, i18n, config, configuration, documentation, Content Management System, cms, headless, javascript, node, react, nextjs
---

The [Admin Panel](../admin/overview) is translated in over [30 languages and counting](https://github.com/payloadcms/payload/tree/main/packages/translations). With I18n, editors can navigate the interface and read API error messages in their preferred language. This is similar to [Localization](./localization), but instead of managing translations for the data itself, you are managing translations for your application's interface.

By default, Payload comes preinstalled with English, but you can easily load other languages into your own application. Languages are automatically detected based on the request. If no language is detected, or if the user's language is not yet supported by your application, English will be chosen.

To configure I18n, use the `i18n` key in your [Payload Config](./overview):

```ts
import { buildConfig } from 'payload'

export default buildConfig({
  // ...
  i18n: { // highlight-line
    // ...
  },
})
```

<Banner type="success">
  **Note:**
  If there is a language that Payload does not yet support, we accept [code contributions](https://github.com/payloadcms/payload/blob/main/CONTRIBUTING.md).
</Banner>

## Config Options

You can easily customize and override any of the i18n settings that Payload provides by default. Payload will use your custom options and merge them in with its own.

```ts
import { buildConfig } from 'payload'

export default buildConfig({
  // ...
  // highlight-start
  i18n: {
    fallbackLanguage: 'en', // default
  }
  // highlight-end
})
```

The following options are available:

| Option                | Description                                                                                                                                                                                                                   |
| --------------------- | --------------------------------|
| **`fallbackLanguage`**     | The language to fall back to if the user's preferred language is not supported. Default is `'en'`.                                                                                                                           |
| **`translations`**    | An object containing the translations. The keys are the language codes and the values are the translations.                                                                                                                |
| **`supportedLanguages`** | An object containing the supported languages. The keys are the language codes and the values are the translations.                                                                                                         |

## Adding Languages

You can easily add new languages to your Payload app by providing the translations for the new language. Payload maintains a number of built-in translations that can be imported from `@payloadcms/translations`, but you can also provide your own [Custom Translations](#custom-translations) to support any language.

To add a new language, use the `i18n.supportedLanguages` key in your [Payload Config](./overview):

```ts
import { buildConfig } from 'payload'
import { en } from '@payloadcms/translations/languages/en'
import { de } from '@payloadcms/translations/languages/de'

export default buildConfig({
  // ...
  // highlight-start
  i18n: {
    supportedLanguages: { en, de },
  },
  // highlight-end
})
```

<Banner type="warning">
 **Tip:**
 It's best to only support the languages that you need so that the bundled JavaScript is kept to a minimum for your project.
</Banner>

### Custom Translations

You can customize Payload's built-in translations either by extending existing languages or by adding new languages entirely. This can be done by injecting new translation strings into existing languages, or by providing an entirely new language keys altogether.

To add Custom Translations, use the `i18n.translations` key in your [Payload Config](./overview):

```ts
import { buildConfig } from 'payload'

export default buildConfig({
  //...
  i18n: {
    // highlight-start
    translations: {
      en: {
        custom: {
          // namespace can be anything you want
          key1: 'Translation with {{variable}}', // translation
        },
        // override existing translation keys
        general: {
          dashboard: 'Home',
        },
      },
    },
    // highlight-end
  },
  //...
})
```

### Project Translations

While Payload's built-in features come fully translated, you may also want to translate parts of your own project. This is possible in places like [Collections](./collections) and [Globals](./globals), such as on their labels and groups, field labels, descriptions or input placeholder text.

To do this, provide the translations wherever applicable, keyed to the language code:

```ts
import type { CollectionConfig } from 'payload'

export const Articles: CollectionConfig = {
  slug: 'articles',
  labels: {
    singular: {
      // highlight-start
      en: 'Article',
      es: 'Artículo',
      // highlight-end
    },
    plural: {
      // highlight-start
      en: 'Articles',
      es: 'Artículos',
      // highlight-end
    },
  },
  admin: {
    group: {
      // highlight-start
      en: 'Content',
      es: 'Contenido',
      // highlight-end
    },
  },
  fields: [
    {
      name: 'title',
      type: 'text',
      label: {
        // highlight-start
        en: 'Title',
        es: 'Título',
        // highlight-end
      },
      admin: {
        placeholder: {
          // highlight-start
          en: 'Enter title',
          es: 'Introduce el título'
          // highlight-end
        },
      },
    },
  ],
}
```

## Node

Payload's backend sets the language on incoming requests before they are handled. This allows backend validation to return error messages in the user's own language or system generated emails to be sent using the correct translation. You can make HTTP requests with the `accept-language` header and Payload will use that language.

Anywhere in your Payload app that you have access to the `req` object, you can access Payload's extensive internationalization features assigned to `req.i18n`. To access text translations you can use `req.t('namespace:key')`.

## TypeScript

In order to use custom translations in your project, you need to provide the types for the translations.

Here we create a shareable translations object. We will import this in both our custom components and in our Payload config.

```ts
// <rootDir>/custom-translations.ts

import type { Config } from 'payload'
import type { NestedKeysStripped } from '@payloadcms/translations'

export const customTranslations: Config['i18n']['translations'] = {
  en: {
    general: {
      myCustomKey: 'My custom english translation',
    },
    fields: {
      addLabel: 'Add!',
    }
  },
}

export type CustomTranslationsObject = typeof customTranslations.en
export type CustomTranslationsKeys = NestedKeysStripped<CustomTranslationsObject>
```

Import the shared translations object into our Payload config so they are available for use:

```ts
// <rootDir>/payload.config.ts

import { buildConfig } from 'payload'

import { customTranslations } from './custom-translations'

export default buildConfig({
  //...
  i18n: {
    translations: customTranslations,
  },
  //...
})
```

Import the shared translation types to use in your [Custom Component](../admin/components):

```ts
// <rootDir>/components/MyComponent.tsx

'use client'
import type React from 'react'
import { useTranslation } from '@payloadcms/ui'

import type { CustomTranslationsObject, CustomTranslationsKeys } from '../custom-translations'

export const MyComponent: React.FC = () => {
  const { i18n, t } = useTranslation<CustomTranslationsObject, CustomTranslationsKeys>() // These generics merge your custom translations with the default client translations

  return t('general:myCustomKey')
}
```

Additionally, Payload exposes the `t` function in various places, for example in labels. Here is how you would type those:

```ts
// <rootDir>/fields/myField.ts

import type { DefaultTranslationKeys, TFunction } from '@payloadcms/translations'
import type { Field } from 'payload'

import { CustomTranslationsKeys } from '../custom-translations'

const field: Field = {
  name: 'myField',
  type: 'text',
  label: (
    { t }: { t: TFunction<CustomTranslationsKeys | DefaultTranslationKeys> }, // The generic passed to TFunction does not automatically merge the custom translations with the default translations. We need to merge them ourselves here
  ) => t('fields:addLabel'),
}
```

