> For the complete documentation index, see [llms.txt](https://docs.rainmad.com/llms.txt). Markdown versions of documentation pages are available by appending `.md` to page URLs; this page is available as [Markdown](https://docs.rainmad.com/resources/map-editor-place-anything/translate-the-strings.md).

# Translate the Strings

Every word a player reads comes from one file. Nothing is written in the code, so a translation is a copy of that file and one line of config.

## Where They Are

```
rm_mapeditor/locales/en.json
```

A flat JSON object, one key per string:

```json
{
  "ui.tool.select": "Select",
  "ui.fill.go": "Fill it",
  "limit_reached": "Placement limit reached (%s)."
}
```

Keys with a `ui.` prefix are read by the interface; the rest are the messages that appear as a toast. Both halves of the resource read the same file, so a key that works in one works in the other.

## Adding a Language

{% stepper %}
{% step %}

### Copy the File

```
locales/en.json  ->  locales/de.json
```

Keep every key. A missing key shows up as the key itself, on purpose: an untranslated string has to be visible rather than blank, or it ships.
{% endstep %}

{% step %}

### Translate the Values

Leave the keys alone and translate the right-hand side.
{% endstep %}

{% step %}

### Point the Config at It

```lua
cfg.locale = 'de'
```

Restart the resource. A locale that is not there falls back to `en` and says so in the console.
{% endstep %}
{% endstepper %}

## Placeholders

`%s` is filled in by the resource, in the order it appears:

```json
"import_done": "Imported %s of %s rows.",
"ui.session.reach_fixed": "%s m, set by whatever opened this session"
```

Keep every `%s` and keep them in that order. A string that loses one loses the number it was carrying.

## Two Conventions Worth Keeping

**Runtime features.** Lights, hidden map pieces, collision and embedded light colour are named as a group in several places, because they behave as a group: they need a script running, so they only work while a layout is active. If you translate that phrase one way in the tag and another way in the settings, it stops reading as one idea.

**What a key says about a press.** A hint under a switch says what pressing it does next rather than what the switch is: "On, click to show every prop". It reads oddly out of context and correctly in it.