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The following page explains exactly how to add a new language translation to XBMC, and how to maintain/update an an existing language file in XBMC. English is the default language of XBMC so it is the English langauge in the SVN that is always up-to-date, please always base your translations of the latest English langauge file from the SVN. The latest language files for XBMC can be found and download [http://xbmc.svn.sourceforge.net/viewvc/xbmc/trunk/language/ here (link)].
The following page explains exactly how to add a new language translation to Kodi, and how to maintain/update an existing language file in Kodi.<br/>
English (United Kingdom) is the default language of Kodi so it is the English language in the Git repository that is always up-to-date.<br/>
Please always base your translations of the latest English language file from Git. The latest language files for Kodi can be found and downloaded [https://github.com/xbmc/xbmc/blob/master/addons/resource.language.en_gb/resources/strings.po here (link)].
 
=== Language add-ons ===
By default Kodi only includes one language which is English (united Kingdom). All other languages have been moved to [https://kodi.wiki/view/Category:Language_add-ons individual language add-ons] which are available form our Kodi repository for download and install. They are auto update by Team Kodi once in a while and pushed to our repository from which you will receive these updates depending on what language(s) you have installed.
 
=== What is langinfo.xml ===
The langinfo.xml file contains language and region specific localization settings used internally by Kodi. Basically it is the default [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Code_page code page] Kodi uses for this language file.
 
The langinfo.xml file is part of a Kodi language add-on and cannot generally be modified directly by end-users. The file describes the presentation formatting for items like dates and times for each of the regional variations within that language.
 
For example: some regions / cultures may prefer their dates to read '1 December 2002' whereas others may prefer 'December 1, 2002'.  These preferences, among others, are defined in this file.
 
==== langinfo.xml ====
<syntaxhighlight lang="xml" enclose="div">
<language locale="[ISO 639-2 Code | ISO 639-1 Code]">
  <regions>
    <region name="[Descriptive Name]" locale="[ISO-3166-1 Alpha-2 Code]">
      <dateshort>[Date Format Codes]</dateshort>
      <datelong>[Date Format Codes]</datelong>
      <time symbolAM="[Symbol for 'ante meridiem']" symbolPM="[Symbol for 'post meridiem']">[Time Format Codes]</time>
      <tempunit>[One of {"f","k","c","re","ra","ro","de","n"}]</tempunit>
      <speedunit>[One of {"kmh","mpmin","mps","fth","ftm","fts","mph","kts","beaufort","inchs","yards","fpf"}]</speedunit>
      <timezone>GMT</timezone>
      <thousandsseparator groupingformat="\3">,</thousandsseparator>
      <decimalseparator>.</decimalseparator>
    </region>
  </regions>
</language>
</syntaxhighlight>
 
The <language> 'locale' is identified using either the 3-character [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ISO_639-2 ISO 639-2] code or the 2-character [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ISO_639-1 ISO 639-1] code.  For example, 'eng' or 'en' for 'English' or 'vie' or 'vi' for 'Vietnamese', or 'fil' for 'Filipino' (Philippines) which lacks an ISO 639-1 code.
 
There can be multiple <region> sections within the <regions> section.
 
In the <region> element, the 'name' attribute is a descriptive name of the region such as 'Australia' or 'Österreich'.  It can also contain extra descriptive information regarding additional formatting options such as 'USA (12h)' or 'India (24h)'.
 
In the <region> element , the 'locale' attribute is the 2-character [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ISO_3166-1_alpha-2#Officially_assigned_code_elements ISO-3166-1 Alpha-2] country code for the region being described.


===The Language Folders===
Both <dateshort> and <datelong> elements contain date formatting codes for displaying short and long dates respectively. A short date would be something like '01/12/02' whereas a long date would be something like 'Dimanche, 1 décembre 2002'.
The "language" folder in XBMC contains one directory for each language. Each language folder contains two files, langinfo.xml and strings.xml. There are also a language folder in skin/PM3.HD that needs translation aswell.


===What is langinfo.xml===
{| class="prettytable" style="width: 35em;"
The langinfo.xml file contains language and region specific localization settings used internally by XBMC. Basically it is the default [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Code_page code page] XBMC uses for this language file.
|+ Valid Date Formatting Codes
| D  || Day without zero padding.  eg: 1 or 31
|-
| DD  || Day with zero padding. eg: 01 or 31.
|-
| ddd  || Language-specific abbreviated day name.  eg: 'Wed' or 'Mi'.
|-
| DDDD  || Language-specific full day name.  eg: 'Wednesday' or 'Mittwoch'.
|-
| M  || Month without zero padding.  eg: 1 or 12
|-
| MM  || Month with zero padding. eg: 01 or 12
|-
| mmm  || Language-specific abbreviated month name.  eg: 'Dec' or 'déc.'.
|-
| MMMM  || Language-specific full month name.  eg: 'December' or 'décembre'.
|-
| YY  || Two-digit year without the century. eg: 02 or 97
|-
| YYYY  || Four-digit year with the century. eg: 2002 or 1997.
|}


====Layout of a langinfo.xml file====
For example, 'DD/MM/YY' would produce something like '01/12/02' whereas 'DDDD, D MMMM YYYY' would something like 'Sunday, 1 December 2002'.
<source lang="xml">
  <language>
    <charsets>
      <gui>GB2312</gui>
      <subtitle>GB2312</subtitle>
    </charsets>
 
    <dvd>
      <menu>cn</menu>
      <audio>cn</audio>
      <subtitle>cn</subtitle>
    </dvd>
  </language>
</source>


The <charset> section:
Note: When this article was being researched in March 2023 the 'symbolAM' and 'symbolPM' attributes within the <time> element seem to have no direct effect on the format. These values appear to be set using localisation strings 378 and 379 respectively from 'strings.po'.
<gui>: Specifies the character encoding of everything within XBMC that is not unicode. Eg. id3 tags with none unicode encoding.
<subtitle>: Default character encoding of subtitles when using a TTF (True-Type-Font).
Choose one encoding for each in the list below. The values may differ if you like.
<br />
The <dvd> section:
Defines the default languages for DVD-Video menu, audio and subtitle language for the [[DVDPlayer]]. Choose one for each entry out of the list of ISO-639 language abbreviations. If the DVD-Video you are playing does not support the language that you specified then it will default to English.


===What is strings.xml===
The <time> element contains time formatting codes for displaying times.
This files contains all strings displayed in the user interface of XBMC.


====Layout of the strings.xml file====
{| class="prettytable" style="width: 30em;"
<source lang="xml">
|+ Valid Time Formatting Codes
  <?xml version="1.0" encoding="ISO-8859-1" standalone="yes"?>
| h  || Hour without zero padding, 12 hour clock.  eg: 1 or 12
  <strings>
|-
    <string><id>0</id><value>My Programs</value></string>
| hh  || Hour without zero padding, 12 hour clock. eg: 01 or 12
    <string><id>1</id><value>My Pictures</value></string>
|-
    <string><id>2</id><value>My Music</value></string>
| H  || Hour without zero padding, 24 hour clock.  eg: 1 or 23
    <string><id>3</id><value>My Videos</value></string>
|-
    <string><id>4</id><value>TV Guide</value></string>
| HH  || Hour without zero padding, 24 hour clock.  eg: 01 or 23
    <string><id>5</id><value>Settings</value></string>
|-
    .
| m  || Minute without zero padding. eg:1 or 59.
    .
|-
    .
| mm  || Minute with zero padding. eg:01 or 59.
  </strings>
|-
</source>
| s  || Seconds without zero padding. eg:1 or 59.
|-
| ss  || Seconds with zero padding. eg:01 or 59.
|-
| xx  || Meridiem indicator for 12 hour clock. eg: AM or PM.
|}


Each string is enclosed in a <string> tag. It contains a tag named <id> with a number xbmc uses to reference a string internally. The <value> tag is the string displayed by xbmc.
For example, 'h:mm xx' would produce something like '2:34 PM' whereas 'HH:mm' would something like '14:34'.


The <tempunit> element determines the unit of measurement to use when describing temperatures.


'''Hint: Multi-Line Text-Values'''<br />
{| class="prettytable" style="width: 15em;"
If you want your text-values to span multiple lines, you can insert a new line character in your <value> tag.<br />
|+ Valid Temperature Units
|  c
|  Celsius
|-
|  f
|  Fahrenheit
|-
|  k
|  Kelvin
|-
|  re
|  Reaumur
|-  
|  ra
|  Rankine
|-  
|  ro
|  Romer
|-  
|  de
|  Delisle
|-
|  n
|  Newton
|-
|}


For example:
The <speedunit> element determines the unit of measurement to use when describing speed.
<source lang="xml">
  <string><id>0</id><value>This will be on the first line
And this will be on the second line</value></string>
</source>


{| class="prettytable" style="width: 20em;"
|+ Valid Speed Units
| kmh || Kilometres per hour
|-
| mpmin || Metres per minute
|-
| mps || Metres per second
|-
| fth || Feet per hour
|-
| ftm || Feet per minute
|-
| fts || Feet per second
|-
| mph || Miles per hour
|-
| kts || Knots
|-
| beaufort || Beaufort
|-
| inchs || Inch per second
|-
| yards || Yard per second
|-
| fpf || Furlong per fortnight
|}


The encoding attribute of the XML header sets the charset the file is encoded with. See List of charsets of possible values.
The <timezone> element is optional but should contain the abbreviated timezone code for the region. For example, 'GMT' or 'CET'.
If you don't know what charset you language uses please follow [http://www.science.co.il/Language/Locale-Codes.asp this link] to find out.


==Adding a new language to XBMC==
The <thousandsseparator> element describes the character used as a thousands separator.
If you want to add a new language to xbmc, this is the easiest way to start:<br />
1. Copy the english language folder and name it like the language you want to add. The foldername must be in english<br />
2. Edit the langinfo.xml to the defaults of your language<br />
3. Edit the strings.xml and set the encoding attribute of the xml header to the appropriate of your language<br />
4. Translate the strings in strings.xml. For easier translation you can use our [[Information on Language Support#XBMC Translator|XBMC Translator]] program.<br />


It is also possible to set the encoding to UTF-8 but then make sure the file is also encoded to UTF-8.
The 'groupingformat' attribute is a mystery known only to the grand high guru of grouping formats, however, a value of "\3" appears to be a popular choice.
(A textfile can be encoded to UTF-8 with the Editor of Windows)


XBMC currently needs a workaround for Indic languages. It is necessary to use unicode fonts like arialuni.ttf and then rename them as arial.ttf so as to display properly. This font should be copied over to the font directory in xbmc folder. You also need to set the font in xbmc to "arial based" (Go to System -> Appearance -> Skin -> Fonts -> Arial Based).
The <decimalseparator> element describes the character used as a decimal point separator.


If you have everything ready you can upload your new language files as a patch (preferably the entire strings.xml file) to [http://trac.xbmc.org/newticket Trac] (our tracker-system)
==== References: ====


==Maintaining a language==
* [https://github.com/xbmc/xbmc/blob/2aab388778dc4590a13e763dc51a4d90562251bb/xbmc/LangInfo.cpp#L98 LangInfo.cpp ].
The English language file ([http://xbmc.svn.sourceforge.net/viewvc/xbmc/branches/linuxport/XBMC/language/English/strings.xml?view=markup strings.xml]) is the master for all language files. From time to time the english language file changes. The file is updated with new strings or existing strings are replaced. You will have to keep track of the changes to the english language file and add them to your file.


How to keep track of changes:
* [https://github.com/xbmc/xbmc/blob/2aab388778dc4590a13e763dc51a4d90562251bb/xbmc/XBDateTime.cpp#L1333  XBDateTime.cpp ].
From time to time check the [http://xbmc.svn.sourceforge.net/viewvc/xbmc/branches/linuxport/XBMC/language/English/ xbmc svn repository] for updates to the english language file. (the link takes you directly to the english language folder.)
Another way is to subscribe to svn changelog ([http://trac.xbmc.org/timeline?changeset=on&max=50&daysback=90&format=rss RSS]). But be warned you do not only get notified when the language file is updated. All updates to the sourcecode of xbmc are posted in this list!


After you are done you can upload your edited language file as a patch (preferably the entire strings.xml file) to [http://trac.xbmc.org/newticket/ Trac] (our tracker-system)
=== What is strings.po ===
This GNU Gettext format file contains all text strings displayed in the user interface of Kodi.<br/>
Using that file the entire application or any add-on can be translated to any language whose graphemes are available within Unicode.


==Related articles in the XBMC online manual==
==== Layout of the strings.po file ====
* [[List of Supported Charsets]]
 
* [[List of language codes (ISO-639:1988)]]
<syntaxhighlight lang="python" enclose="div">
# Kodi Media Center language file
# Addon Name: Skin Widgets
# Addon id: service.skin.widgets
# Addon Provider: Martijn, phil65
msgid ""
msgstr ""
"Project-Id-Version: Kodi Addons\n"
"Report-Msgid-Bugs-To: [email protected]\n"
"POT-Creation-Date: YEAR-MO-DA HO:MI+ZONE\n"
"PO-Revision-Date: YEAR-MO-DA HO:MI+ZONE\n"
"Last-Translator: Kodi Translation Team\n"
"Language-Team: English (https://kodi.weblate.cloud/languages/en_gb/)\n"
"MIME-Version: 1.0\n"
"Content-Type: text/plain; charset=UTF-8\n"
"Content-Transfer-Encoding: 8bit\n"
"Language: en\n"
"Plural-Forms: nplurals=2; plural=(n != 1);\n"
 
msgctxt "#32001"
msgid "Recommended"
msgstr ""
 
msgctxt "#32002"
msgid "Random Items"
msgstr ""
 
# empty string with id 32003
 
msgctxt "#32004"
msgid "Randomize time (minutes)"
msgstr ""
 
msgctxt "#32005"
msgid "Use season folders"
msgstr ""
 
</syntaxhighlight>
 
This is a format defined by [https://www.gnu.org/software/gettext/ GNU gettext] but adapted in a very specific way by Kodi. The blocks of 3 settings in the example above are defined by GNU gettext as:
 
msgctxt ''context''
msgid ''untranslated-string''
msgstr ''translated-string''
 
Where the text is defined by ''untranslated-string'' and ''context'' serves to differentiate identical values.
 
Take note, in Kodi, these are used as follows:
 
msgctxt "#''label_id''"
msgid ''label_text''
msgstr ''translation''
 
where ''label_id'' is a numeric ID. These IDs are reserved by Kodi:
 
* strings 30000 thru 30999 reserved for plugins and plugin settings
* strings 31000 thru 31999 reserved for skins
* strings 32000 thru 32999 reserved for scripts
* strings 33000 thru 33999 reserved for common strings used in add-ons
 
and are used in [[Add-on_settings_conversion|settings.xml]] to label settings.
 
''label_text'' defines the English text for the label.
 
''translation'' is empty for "en_GB" labels, and the translation for other languages with msgid retaining the English text.
 
The important thing is that you cannot refer to the label with msgid in the settings.py file, you need to use the ''label_id'' which must be encoded in msgctxt as above.
 
You can of course edit .po files in a text editor or with a specialist editor.
 
==== Layout of the language folders ====
 
Kodi loads the strings.po file depending on the set interface language. Should it find a matching language it will try to load that strings.po. If not available it will always fall back to English (United Kingdom).
For this to work you will need to place the strings.po in the correctly named folder depending on the language. These folders use "language-country" naming scheme.
<br/><br/>
Add-ons:
<syntaxhighlight lang="python" enclose="div">
/resources/language/resource.language.en_gb/strings.po
/resources/language/resource.language.fr_fr/strings.po
/resources/language/resource.language.it_it/strings.po
</syntaxhighlight>
Skins:
<syntaxhighlight lang="python" enclose="div">
/language/resource.language.en_gb/strings.po
/language/resource.language.fr_fr/strings.po
/language/resource.language.it_it/strings.po
</syntaxhighlight>
Please use lower case for folder and file names.
<br/><br/>
An extensive example list of used languages can be found here https://github.com/xbmc/xbmc/tree/master/addons/skin.estuary/language
 
== Adding a new language to Kodi ==
 
{{see|Language portal}}


== Maintaining a language ==
The English (UK) language file ([https://github.com/xbmc/xbmc/blob/master/addons/resource.language.en_gb/resources/strings.po]) is the master for all language files.<br/>
From time to time the English (UK) language file changes. This will instantly be automatically updated at Weblate translation pages.


==[[XBMC Translator]]==
== Related articles in the Kodi online manual ==
The XBMC Translator tool can be used to easily translate each strings contained in the english language file to other languages.<br />
* [[Translations|Translations in Kodi]]
<br />
* [[Translating_add-ons|Translating your add-on]]
You may also use the translator on Linux (using wine), see this [[Translator on Linux|guide]].<br />
* [[List_of_supported_charsets|List of Supported Charsets]]
On the following link you can find detailed information on using the '''[[XBMC Translator]]'''.
* [[List of language codes (ISO-639:1988)]]


==Notes for developers==
== Notes for developers ==
XBMC uses UTF-8 as internal character encoding. Please make sure if you add new features to xbmc which depend on external data to convert these to UTF-8 if they aren't already. Use the languagefile from branches/linuxport, since we merge that file into trunk.
Kodi uses UTF-8 as internal character encoding. Please make sure if you add new features to Kodi which depend on external data to convert these to UTF-8 if they aren't already. Use the languagefile from branches/linuxport, since we merge that file into trunk.


[[Category:Manual]]
[[Category:Development]]
[[Category:Development]]
[[Category:Skin Development]]
[[Category:Skin development]]
[[Category:Languages]]
[[Category:Languages|*]]

Latest revision as of 03:48, 31 March 2023

Home icon grey.png   ▶ Development
▶ Add-on development		 ▶ Language support
Cleanup.png This page or section may require cleanup, updating, spellchecking, reformatting and/or updated images. Please improve this page if you can. The discussion page may contain suggestions.


The following page explains exactly how to add a new language translation to Kodi, and how to maintain/update an existing language file in Kodi.
English (United Kingdom) is the default language of Kodi so it is the English language in the Git repository that is always up-to-date.
Please always base your translations of the latest English language file from Git. The latest language files for Kodi can be found and downloaded here (link).

Language add-ons

By default Kodi only includes one language which is English (united Kingdom). All other languages have been moved to individual language add-ons which are available form our Kodi repository for download and install. They are auto update by Team Kodi once in a while and pushed to our repository from which you will receive these updates depending on what language(s) you have installed.

What is langinfo.xml

The langinfo.xml file contains language and region specific localization settings used internally by Kodi. Basically it is the default code page Kodi uses for this language file.

The langinfo.xml file is part of a Kodi language add-on and cannot generally be modified directly by end-users. The file describes the presentation formatting for items like dates and times for each of the regional variations within that language.

For example: some regions / cultures may prefer their dates to read '1 December 2002' whereas others may prefer 'December 1, 2002'. These preferences, among others, are defined in this file.

langinfo.xml

<language locale="[ISO 639-2 Code | ISO 639-1 Code]">
  <regions>
    <region name="[Descriptive Name]" locale="[ISO-3166-1 Alpha-2 Code]">
      <dateshort>[Date Format Codes]</dateshort>
      <datelong>[Date Format Codes]</datelong>
      <time symbolAM="[Symbol for 'ante meridiem']" symbolPM="[Symbol for 'post meridiem']">[Time Format Codes]</time>
      <tempunit>[One of {"f","k","c","re","ra","ro","de","n"}]</tempunit>
      <speedunit>[One of {"kmh","mpmin","mps","fth","ftm","fts","mph","kts","beaufort","inchs","yards","fpf"}]</speedunit>
      <timezone>GMT</timezone>
      <thousandsseparator groupingformat="\3">,</thousandsseparator>
      <decimalseparator>.</decimalseparator>
    </region>
  </regions>
</language>

The <language> 'locale' is identified using either the 3-character ISO 639-2 code or the 2-character ISO 639-1 code. For example, 'eng' or 'en' for 'English' or 'vie' or 'vi' for 'Vietnamese', or 'fil' for 'Filipino' (Philippines) which lacks an ISO 639-1 code.

There can be multiple <region> sections within the <regions> section.

In the <region> element, the 'name' attribute is a descriptive name of the region such as 'Australia' or 'Österreich'. It can also contain extra descriptive information regarding additional formatting options such as 'USA (12h)' or 'India (24h)'.

In the <region> element , the 'locale' attribute is the 2-character ISO-3166-1 Alpha-2 country code for the region being described.

Both <dateshort> and <datelong> elements contain date formatting codes for displaying short and long dates respectively. A short date would be something like '01/12/02' whereas a long date would be something like 'Dimanche, 1 décembre 2002'.

Valid Date Formatting Codes
D Day without zero padding. eg: 1 or 31
DD Day with zero padding. eg: 01 or 31.
ddd Language-specific abbreviated day name. eg: 'Wed' or 'Mi'.
DDDD Language-specific full day name. eg: 'Wednesday' or 'Mittwoch'.
M Month without zero padding. eg: 1 or 12
MM Month with zero padding. eg: 01 or 12
mmm Language-specific abbreviated month name. eg: 'Dec' or 'déc.'.
MMMM Language-specific full month name. eg: 'December' or 'décembre'.
YY Two-digit year without the century. eg: 02 or 97
YYYY Four-digit year with the century. eg: 2002 or 1997.

For example, 'DD/MM/YY' would produce something like '01/12/02' whereas 'DDDD, D MMMM YYYY' would something like 'Sunday, 1 December 2002'.

Note: When this article was being researched in March 2023 the 'symbolAM' and 'symbolPM' attributes within the

The

Valid Time Formatting Codes
h Hour without zero padding, 12 hour clock. eg: 1 or 12
hh Hour without zero padding, 12 hour clock. eg: 01 or 12
H Hour without zero padding, 24 hour clock. eg: 1 or 23
HH Hour without zero padding, 24 hour clock. eg: 01 or 23
m Minute without zero padding. eg:1 or 59.
mm Minute with zero padding. eg:01 or 59.
s Seconds without zero padding. eg:1 or 59.
ss Seconds with zero padding. eg:01 or 59.
xx Meridiem indicator for 12 hour clock. eg: AM or PM.

For example, 'h:mm xx' would produce something like '2:34 PM' whereas 'HH:mm' would something like '14:34'.

The <tempunit> element determines the unit of measurement to use when describing temperatures.

Valid Temperature Units
c Celsius
f Fahrenheit
k Kelvin
re Reaumur
ra Rankine
ro Romer
de Delisle
n Newton

The <speedunit> element determines the unit of measurement to use when describing speed.

Valid Speed Units
kmh Kilometres per hour
mpmin Metres per minute
mps Metres per second
fth Feet per hour
ftm Feet per minute
fts Feet per second
mph Miles per hour
kts Knots
beaufort Beaufort
inchs Inch per second
yards Yard per second
fpf Furlong per fortnight

The <timezone> element is optional but should contain the abbreviated timezone code for the region. For example, 'GMT' or 'CET'.

The <thousandsseparator> element describes the character used as a thousands separator.

The 'groupingformat' attribute is a mystery known only to the grand high guru of grouping formats, however, a value of "\3" appears to be a popular choice.

The <decimalseparator> element describes the character used as a decimal point separator.

References:

What is strings.po

This GNU Gettext format file contains all text strings displayed in the user interface of Kodi.
Using that file the entire application or any add-on can be translated to any language whose graphemes are available within Unicode.

Layout of the strings.po file

# Kodi Media Center language file
# Addon Name: Skin Widgets
# Addon id: service.skin.widgets
# Addon Provider: Martijn, phil65
msgid ""
msgstr ""
"Project-Id-Version: Kodi Addons\n"
"Report-Msgid-Bugs-To: [email protected]\n"
"POT-Creation-Date: YEAR-MO-DA HO:MI+ZONE\n"
"PO-Revision-Date: YEAR-MO-DA HO:MI+ZONE\n"
"Last-Translator: Kodi Translation Team\n"
"Language-Team: English (https://kodi.weblate.cloud/languages/en_gb/)\n"
"MIME-Version: 1.0\n"
"Content-Type: text/plain; charset=UTF-8\n"
"Content-Transfer-Encoding: 8bit\n"
"Language: en\n"
"Plural-Forms: nplurals=2; plural=(n != 1);\n"

msgctxt "#32001"
msgid "Recommended"
msgstr ""

msgctxt "#32002"
msgid "Random Items"
msgstr ""

# empty string with id 32003

msgctxt "#32004"
msgid "Randomize time (minutes)"
msgstr ""

msgctxt "#32005"
msgid "Use season folders"
msgstr ""

This is a format defined by GNU gettext but adapted in a very specific way by Kodi. The blocks of 3 settings in the example above are defined by GNU gettext as: 

msgctxt context
msgid untranslated-string
msgstr translated-string

Where the text is defined by untranslated-string and context serves to differentiate identical values.

Take note, in Kodi, these are used as follows: 

msgctxt "#label_id"
msgid label_text
msgstr translation

where label_id is a numeric ID. These IDs are reserved by Kodi:

  • strings 30000 thru 30999 reserved for plugins and plugin settings
  • strings 31000 thru 31999 reserved for skins
  • strings 32000 thru 32999 reserved for scripts
  • strings 33000 thru 33999 reserved for common strings used in add-ons

and are used in settings.xml to label settings.

label_text defines the English text for the label.

translation is empty for "en_GB" labels, and the translation for other languages with msgid retaining the English text.

The important thing is that you cannot refer to the label with msgid in the settings.py file, you need to use the label_id which must be encoded in msgctxt as above.

You can of course edit .po files in a text editor or with a specialist editor.

Layout of the language folders

Kodi loads the strings.po file depending on the set interface language. Should it find a matching language it will try to load that strings.po. If not available it will always fall back to English (United Kingdom). For this to work you will need to place the strings.po in the correctly named folder depending on the language. These folders use "language-country" naming scheme.

Add-ons: 

/resources/language/resource.language.en_gb/strings.po
/resources/language/resource.language.fr_fr/strings.po
/resources/language/resource.language.it_it/strings.po

Skins: 

/language/resource.language.en_gb/strings.po
/language/resource.language.fr_fr/strings.po
/language/resource.language.it_it/strings.po

Please use lower case for folder and file names.

An extensive example list of used languages can be found here https://github.com/xbmc/xbmc/tree/master/addons/skin.estuary/language

Adding a new language to Kodi

See: Language portal

Maintaining a language

The English (UK) language file ([1]) is the master for all language files.
From time to time the English (UK) language file changes. This will instantly be automatically updated at Weblate translation pages.

Related articles in the Kodi online manual

Notes for developers

Kodi uses UTF-8 as internal character encoding. Please make sure if you add new features to Kodi which depend on external data to convert these to UTF-8 if they aren't already. Use the languagefile from branches/linuxport, since we merge that file into trunk.

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