# Internationalization

## Adding New Languages

This file documents the necessary procedure for adding a new language to the list of languages that Wine can display system menus and forms in. Adding new translations is not hard as it requires no programming knowledge or special skills.

Language dependent resources reside in files named `somefile_Xx.rc` or `Xx.rc`, where `Xx` is your language abbreviation (look for it in `include/winnls.h`). These are included in a master file named `somefile.rc` or `rsrc.rc`, located in the same directory as the language files.

To add a new language to one of these resources you need to make a copy of the English resource (located in the `somefile_En.rc` file) over to your `somefile_Xx.rc` file, include this file in the master `somefile.rc` file, and edit the new file to translate the English text. You may also need to rearrange some of the controls to better fit the newly translated strings. Test your changes to make sure they properly layout on the screen.

In menus, the character "&" means that the next character will be highlighted and that pressing that letter will select the item. You should place these "&" characters suitably for your language, not just copy the positions from English. In particular, items within one menu should have different highlighted letters.

To get a list of the files that need translating, run the following command in the root of your Wine tree: `find -name "*En.rc"`.

When adding a new language, also make sure the parameters defined in `./dlls/kernel/nls/*.nls` fit your local habits and language.