{"id":42784,"date":"2026-03-16T06:00:00","date_gmt":"2026-03-16T05:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/churchtools.academy\/help\/non-knowledgebase\/uncategorized\/how-do-i-add-new-languages-to-churchtools\/"},"modified":"2026-03-23T08:53:14","modified_gmt":"2026-03-23T07:53:14","password":"","slug":"how-do-i-add-new-languages-to-churchtools","status":"publish","type":"docs","link":"https:\/\/churchtools.academy\/en\/help\/administration\/languages\/how-do-i-add-new-languages-to-churchtools\/","title":{"rendered":"How to add new languages to ChurchTools?"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p>Each time you update your ChurchTool, it automatically searches for new <em>languages<\/em>. If your system finds one or more languages that it does not yet have, these are imported. No translations that you have changed yourself in your ChurchTools will be overwritten. We explain how to do this on the help page <a href=\"https:\/\/churchtools.academy\/en\/help\/administration\/languages\/how-to-customize-translations-in-churchtools\/\">How to customize translations in ChurchTools?<\/a>   <\/p>\n\n\n\n<aside class=\"wp-block-group ct-box ct-box-blue has-background is-vertical is-layout-flex wp-container-core-group-is-layout-002f1c27 wp-block-group-is-layout-flex\" style=\"border-radius:8px;border-left-color:#3e70ce;border-left-width:0.5rem;background-color:#f3f5f7;margin-top:var(--wp--preset--spacing--60);margin-bottom:var(--wp--preset--spacing--60)\">\n<p style=\"margin-top:0.5rem;margin-right:0.5rem;margin-bottom:0rem;margin-left:0.5rem\"><strong>Note<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p style=\"margin-top:0rem;margin-right:0.5rem;margin-bottom:0.5rem;margin-left:0.5rem\">It is very important to distinguish between <em>translations<\/em> and <em>languages<\/em>. You can find basic information on this on our help page <a href=\"https:\/\/churchtools.academy\/en\/help\/administration\/languages\/internationalization\/\">Overview of languages and translations<\/a> and the pages linked there. <\/p>\n<\/aside>\n\n\n\n<p>In principle, we automatically provide you with <strong>all the languages<\/strong> that we maintain in our systems. If the language you require is not available in your system, you can integrate it manually and maintain it yourself. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>To do this, go to <em>Translations<\/em> via the <em>Manage menu<\/em> and select the <em>Languages<\/em> tab (1). Click on <em>Language<\/em> (2). A list of the languages already available in your ChurchTools will open. Click on a language to edit it.   <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>You can add another language to your system using the blue plus (3) at the bottom of the table. Please note that you must also maintain languages that you add yourself by entering a translation for each technical term &#8211; so-called <em>keys<\/em> &#8211; under <em>Translations<\/em>. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-group is-layout-constrained wp-block-group-is-layout-constrained\">\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-full\"><a href=\"https:\/\/churchtools.academy\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/11\/Translations_Tab-Languages.png\"><img fetchpriority=\"high\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"2128\" height=\"1118\" src=\"https:\/\/churchtools.academy\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/11\/Translations_Tab-Languages.png\" alt=\"Translations - Tab Languages\" class=\"wp-image-42842\" srcset=\"https:\/\/churchtools.academy\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/11\/Translations_Tab-Languages.png 2128w, https:\/\/churchtools.academy\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/11\/Translations_Tab-Languages-300x158.png 300w, https:\/\/churchtools.academy\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/11\/Translations_Tab-Languages-1024x538.png 1024w, https:\/\/churchtools.academy\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/11\/Translations_Tab-Languages-768x403.png 768w, https:\/\/churchtools.academy\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/11\/Translations_Tab-Languages-1536x807.png 1536w, https:\/\/churchtools.academy\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/11\/Translations_Tab-Languages-2048x1076.png 2048w, https:\/\/churchtools.academy\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/11\/Translations_Tab-Languages-360x189.png 360w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 2128px) 100vw, 2128px\" \/><\/a><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n<p>When you create a new language, you must enter the following information:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li><em>Language abbreviation<\/em> (4): We use the official language abbreviations according to ISO 639-1. In exceptional cases, we abbreviate to the second part, as with zh-tw and zh-cn.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><em>Name<\/em> (5): Here, too, we are guided by the official proper names of the languages, such as Suomi for the Finnish language.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><em>Active<\/em> (6):<strong> L<\/strong>anguages can be easily activated and deactivated using this tick.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><em>Sort order<\/em> (7): The number assigned here reflects the order in which the languages are displayed in the selection menu for your ChurchTools language. The lower the number, the higher up the language is in the menu. If the sorting is identical, the languages are sorted alphabetically according to the language abbreviation.  <\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-full is-resized\"><a href=\"https:\/\/churchtools.academy\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/11\/Translations_Tab-Languages_Create-new-entry.png\"><img decoding=\"async\" width=\"804\" height=\"488\" src=\"https:\/\/churchtools.academy\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/11\/Translations_Tab-Languages_Create-new-entry.png\" alt=\"Translations - Tab Languages - Create new entry\" class=\"wp-image-42846\" style=\"width:451px;height:auto\" srcset=\"https:\/\/churchtools.academy\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/11\/Translations_Tab-Languages_Create-new-entry.png 804w, https:\/\/churchtools.academy\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/11\/Translations_Tab-Languages_Create-new-entry-300x182.png 300w, https:\/\/churchtools.academy\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/11\/Translations_Tab-Languages_Create-new-entry-768x466.png 768w, https:\/\/churchtools.academy\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/11\/Translations_Tab-Languages_Create-new-entry-360x219.png 360w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 804px) 100vw, 804px\" \/><\/a><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p>Once the language has been created, you can start adding translations. We explain how to do this at <a href=\"https:\/\/churchtools.academy\/en\/help\/administration\/languages\/how-to-customize-translations-in-churchtools\/\">How to customize translations in ChurchTools?<\/a> <\/p>\n\n\n\n<aside class=\"wp-block-group ct-artikel-zum-weiterlesen has-background is-layout-constrained wp-container-core-group-is-layout-89fd719a wp-block-group-is-layout-constrained\" style=\"border-radius:8px;background-color:#f9fafb;margin-top:24px;margin-bottom:24px;padding-top:32px;padding-right:24px;padding-bottom:32px;padding-left:24px\">\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading has-medium-font-size\">Article to read more<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/churchtools.academy\/en\/help\/administration\/languages\/internationalization\/\">Overview of languages and translations<\/a><\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/churchtools.academy\/en\/help\/my-churchtools\/customization\/how-to-change-the-language-of-my-churchtool\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">How to change the language of my ChurchTool?<\/a><\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/churchtools.academy\/en\/help\/administration\/languages\/how-to-customize-translations-in-churchtools\/\">How can I customize translations in ChurchTools?<\/a><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/aside>\n\n\n\n<p><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Each time you update your ChurchTool, it automatically searches for new languages. If your system finds one or more languages that it does not yet have, these are imported. No translations that you have changed yourself in your ChurchTools will be overwritten. We explain how to do this on the help page How to customize [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":43,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"doc_category":[696],"doc_tag":[],"knowledge_base":[426],"class_list":["post-42784","docs","type-docs","status-publish","hentry","doc_category-languages","knowledge_base-administration"],"pp_statuses_selecting_workflow":false,"pp_workflow_action":"current","pp_status_selection":"publish","acf":[],"year_month":"2026-04","word_count":344,"total_views":"713","reactions":{"happy":"0","normal":"0","sad":"0"},"author_info":{"name":"Stefan Krumsdorf","author_nicename":"skrumsdorf","author_url":"https:\/\/churchtools.academy\/en\/author\/skrumsdorf\/"},"doc_category_info":[{"term_name":"Languages","term_url":"https:\/\/churchtools.academy\/en\/help\/administration\/languages\/"}],"doc_tag_info":[],"knowledge_base_info":[{"term_name":"Administration","term_url":"https:\/\/churchtools.academy\/en\/help\/administration\/","term_slug":"administration"}],"knowledge_base_slug":["administration"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/churchtools.academy\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/docs\/42784","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/churchtools.academy\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/docs"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/churchtools.academy\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/docs"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/churchtools.academy\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/43"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/churchtools.academy\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=42784"}],"version-history":[{"count":8,"href":"https:\/\/churchtools.academy\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/docs\/42784\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":54965,"href":"https:\/\/churchtools.academy\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/docs\/42784\/revisions\/54965"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/churchtools.academy\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=42784"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"doc_category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/churchtools.academy\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/doc_category?post=42784"},{"taxonomy":"doc_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/churchtools.academy\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/doc_tag?post=42784"},{"taxonomy":"knowledge_base","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/churchtools.academy\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/knowledge_base?post=42784"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}