---
title: Localization
description: 86+ language translations
---

import Callout from "blume/components/content/Callout.astro";
import FileTree from "blume/components/content/FileTree.astro";
import Accordion from "blume/components/content/Accordion.astro";
import AccordionItem from "blume/components/content/AccordionItem.astro";
import Badge from "blume/components/content/Badge.astro";

CineWindows ships with translations for **86 languages** covering the majority of the world's spoken languages. The interface language can be changed at any time from **Preferences > General > Language** and takes effect after restarting the application.

## Translation Architecture

CineWindows uses the Qt Linguist framework for all user-facing text. This is the standard Qt i18n system, integrated via CMake's `qt_add_translations()`.

| Component | Function |
|-----------|----------|
| **QML** | `qsTr("string")` for inline translatable strings |
| **C++** | `tr("string")` or `QCoreApplication::translate()` in backend code |
| **Context** | Translation context derived from the file or class name |

All .ts files are stored in the `i18n/` directory at the project root.

<FileTree>
- i18n/
  - CineWindows_en.ts
  - CineWindows_hi.ts
  - CineWindows_fr.ts
  - CineWindows_de.ts
  - CineWindows_es.ts
  - CineWindows_ja.ts
  - CineWindows_zh_CN.ts
  - CineWindows_zh_TW.ts
  - CineWindows_ar.ts
  - CineWindows_ru.ts
  - CineWindows_pt.ts
  - ... (86 total files)
  - README.md
</FileTree>

## Qt Linguist Workflow

The translation pipeline follows the standard Qt Linguist process:

### 1. Source Strings

Translatable strings are marked in QML source files with `qsTr()`:

```qml
Button {
    text: qsTr("Play")
}
```

In C++ source, `tr()` is used:

```cpp
setStatusMessage(tr("Could not start device discovery"));
```

### 2. Update Translations (lupdate)

Run the update script to extract all source strings and merge them into the .ts files:

```powershell
powershell -NoProfile -ExecutionPolicy Bypass -File scripts\generate\update_translations.ps1
```

This runs `lupdate` over the QML and C++ sources, updating every language's .ts file with new, obsolete, and unchanged strings.

### 3. Translate

Open any `.ts` file in **Qt Linguist** to provide translations. Each string shows:

- Source text in English
- Context (file and class name)
- Translator comments (if provided in source)
- Status (untranslated / finished / obsolete)

### 4. Compile Translations (lrelease)

Compile .ts files into binary .qm resources:

```powershell
powershell -NoProfile -ExecutionPolicy Bypass -File scripts\generate\update_translations.ps1 -ReleaseOnly
```

This runs `lrelease`, producing `.qm` files that are embedded into the CineWindows binary via Qt's resource system.

## Changing the Language

Navigate to **Preferences > General > Language** and select your preferred language from the dropdown. The change requires an application restart to take full effect — CineWindows will prompt you to restart.

> **Tip**
>
> The language selector displays native language names (e.g. "हिन्दी", "Français", "日本語") for easier identification.

## Supported Locales

<Accordion>
<AccordionItem title="Germanic Languages">

| Code | Language |
|------|----------|
| `en` | English |
| `de` | German |
| `nl` | Dutch |
| `sv` | Swedish |
| `da` | Danish |
| `nb` | Norwegian Bokmål |
| `nn` | Norwegian Nynorsk |
| `is` | Icelandic |
| `af` | Afrikaans |

</AccordionItem>
<AccordionItem title="Romance Languages">

| Code | Language |
|------|----------|
| `fr` | French |
| `es` | Spanish |
| `pt` | Portuguese |
| `it` | Italian |
| `ro` | Romanian |
| `ca` | Catalan |
| `gl` | Galician |

</AccordionItem>
<AccordionItem title="Slavic Languages">

| Code | Language |
|------|----------|
| `ru` | Russian |
| `uk` | Ukrainian |
| `be` | Belarusian |
| `pl` | Polish |
| `cs` | Czech |
| `sk` | Slovak |
| `bg` | Bulgarian |
| `sr` | Serbian |
| `hr` | Croatian |
| `sl` | Slovenian |
| `mk` | Macedonian |
| `bs` | Bosnian |

</AccordionItem>
<AccordionItem title="Indo-Aryan Languages">

| Code | Language |
|------|----------|
| `hi` | Hindi |
| `bn` | Bengali |
| `mr` | Marathi |
| `gu` | Gujarati |
| `pa` | Punjabi |
| `ur` | Urdu |
| `ne` | Nepali |
| `si` | Sinhala |
| `ps` | Pashto |

</AccordionItem>
<AccordionItem title="Sino-Tibetan & East Asian Languages">

| Code | Language |
|------|----------|
| `zh_CN` | Chinese (Simplified) |
| `zh_TW` | Chinese (Traditional) |
| `ja` | Japanese |
| `ko` | Korean |
| `my` | Burmese |

</AccordionItem>
<AccordionItem title="Austronesian & Southeast Asian Languages">

| Code | Language |
|------|----------|
| `id` | Indonesian |
| `ms` | Malay |
| `tl` | Tagalog |
| `fil` | Filipino |
| `vi` | Vietnamese |
| `th` | Thai |
| `km` | Khmer |
| `mn` | Mongolian |

</AccordionItem>
<AccordionItem title="Dravidian Languages">

| Code | Language |
|------|----------|
| `te` | Telugu |
| `ta` | Tamil |
| `kn` | Kannada |
| `ml` | Malayalam |

</AccordionItem>
<AccordionItem title="Turkic & Central Asian Languages">

| Code | Language |
|------|----------|
| `tr` | Turkish |
| `az` | Azerbaijani |
| `uz` | Uzbek |
| `kk` | Kazakh |
| `ky` | Kyrgyz |
| `tk` | Turkmen |
| `ug` | Uyghur |

</AccordionItem>
<AccordionItem title="Semitic & Afroasiatic Languages">

| Code | Language |
|------|----------|
| `ar` | Arabic |
| `he` | Hebrew |
| `mt` | Maltese |
| `am` | Amharic (if present) |

</AccordionItem>
<AccordionItem title="Other Languages">

| Code | Language |
|------|----------|
| `fi` | Finnish |
| `et` | Estonian |
| `hu` | Hungarian |
| `el` | Greek |
| `hy` | Armenian |
| `ka` | Georgian |
| `eu` | Basque |
| `cy` | Welsh |
| `ga` | Irish |
| `gd` | Scottish Gaelic |
| `yi` | Yiddish |
| `wa` | Walloon |
| `sq` | Albanian |
| `lv` | Latvian |
| `lt` | Lithuanian |
| `mi` | Maori |
| `xh` | Xhosa |
| `zu` | Zulu |
| `sw` | Swahili |
| `ast` | Asturian |
| `tg` | Tajik |
| `te` | Telugu |

</AccordionItem>
</Accordion>

> **Info**
>
> Not all translations may be complete at any given time. Untranslated strings fall back to English automatically. Translation contributions are welcome — see the project repository for contribution guidelines.