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Add or Remove Project Languages

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Add or Remove Project Languages

Add or remove languages from your localization project — rollout steps, common mistakes, and how new strings stay automatically covered for active locales.

Use this guide when you need to change the languages enabled for a project.

What Happens When You Add a Language

When you add a new target language:

  1. The language is attached to the project.
  2. Existing base-language strings are copied into that language as translation candidates.
  3. Translation jobs are queued for those new rows.
  4. The language is activated after setup processing completes.

For repository-based projects, resulting file changes are written through your normal automation flow.

What Happens When You Remove a Language

When you remove a language:

  • The language is removed from project language settings.
  • Existing localized rows for that language are deleted.
  • This is treated as a destructive action and is not reversible in-app.

For repository-based projects, removals are propagated through generated repo changes.

Base Language Rules

  • Base language is required.
  • Base language cannot be removed.
  • If you attempt to remove base, it is automatically retained.

Common Bulk Rollout Mistakes

When launching many languages, avoid these patterns:

  • Adding too many locales at once without a review plan.
  • Rolling out new languages while also changing glossary, prompt, and tone in the same pass.
  • Expanding languages before base-language strings and comments are stable.
  • Treating regional variants as interchangeable without checking locale requirements (pt vs pt-BR, en vs en-GB).

For larger expansions, use staged rollout:

  1. Add a small first wave of priority languages.
  2. Validate translation quality and review workload.
  3. Tune glossary/protected terms and prompt guidance.
  4. Add the next wave once quality is stable.

This keeps review queues manageable and reduces churn.

Keeping New Strings Localized Automatically

After languages are active, String Catalog keeps coverage up to date during sync:

  • New base-language keys are detected.
  • Missing target-language rows are created for each active non-base language.
  • Those rows are queued for localization.
  • Needs-review rows are also requeued when applicable.

In practice, if you add a new source string, it is automatically prepared and queued for your active target languages on the next sync run.

Operational Notes

  • Finish project setup before changing languages.
  • Manage languages in moderation; rapid repeated changes are rate-limited.
  • Translation processing depends on plan eligibility and active project configuration.