RoboSats is a way to exchange bitcoin for **any currency of the world**. As such, many users might only find this tool useful if it is available in a language they understand. Translating RoboSats into a new language is one of the most valuable contributions to the project! It makes the platform available to new audiences, increases the reach of this cool freedom tool, and subsequently increases order book liquidity for even more users to stack Sats privately.
There isn't a lot of text in RoboSats; however, it might be best to split the work with another contributor. You can reach out to the [RoboSats communities](https://learn.robosats.com/contribute/code/#communication-channels) and find users willing to split the task.
Simply create a new translation file in `frontend/static/locales` [link to GitHub](https://github.com/RoboSats/robosats/tree/main/frontend/static/locales). In `locales` there is a single file with a json dictionary for every language. In order to create a new translation, simply copy `en.json` (the master text) into a new file named after the language's [ISO 639 two character code](https://www.loc.gov/standards/iso639-2/php/English_list.php).
Each language `.json` dictionary contains pairs of keys and values in the following format { "key1":"value1", "key2":"value2", ...}. Most keys are the literal English sentence. These simply have to be translated on the right side, for example, in order to translate the `Make Order` button to Spanish, you would edit the json file to look like this `{... "Make Order":"Crear Orden",...}`.
Some keys are not the English sentence, but a variable name. E.g., "phone_unsafe_alert". In this case, you must take a look at the value originally in `en.json`.
### 2. **The language dictionary is split into 9 sections.**
The first key of each section is a reference and does not need to be translated. For example, the second section starts with the key:value `"USER GENERATION PAGE - UserGenPage.js": "Landing Page and User Generation"`. It does not need to be translated; it is just information for the translator to understand what part of the app they will be working on.
### 3. **Try to keep a similar length to the original sentence.**
In most cases it will be okay if the translation is shorter. However, translations that result in a higher character count might break the UI! It might not always be possible to stick to the length of the English sentence. In those cases, the UI might have to be changed. Contact the person responsible for such a change.
For example, {{currencyCode}}. It will insert the currency code where the variable is found. E.g., `"Pay 30 {{currencyCode}}"` will render as "Pay 30 USD".
These tags are usually hyperlinks. For example, in `{"phone_unsafe_alert": "Use <1>Tor Browser</1> and visit the <3>Onion</3> site."}` the children text of <1> (Tor Browser) will link to the Tor Download website, and the children of <3> will link to the RoboSats Onion site.
### 6. **It is best to translate from top to bottom of the .json file**
Some text is high priority, other text is low priority. Some keys are likely to change soon or they might not be so relevant for the user of the app. The translation files are sorted from top to bottom by the priority of the translation.
Literal translations might not work well in some languages. While in English the wording is always similar regardless of the position in the UI, in some languages it might be very different if you are translating a button (the user is taking an action) or if you are simply translating a tooltip. It might be clever to translate the strings while looking at the app. However, many strings can only be found while trading. The testnet RoboSats site is great for this use! You can explore the whole app by simply interacting with it using a testnet Lightning wallet. However, if you cannot find where a string is displayed, it might be faster to simply write a message on the [SimpleX group](https://simplex.chat/contact#/?v=1-2&smp=smp%3A%2F%2F0YuTwO05YJWS8rkjn9eLJDjQhFKvIYd8d4xG8X1blIU%3D%40smp8.simplex.im%2FyEX_vdhWew_FkovCQC3mRYRWZB1j_cBq%23%2F%3Fv%3D1-2%26dh%3DMCowBQYDK2VuAyEAnrf9Jw3Ajdp4EQw71kqA64VgsIIzw8YNn68WjF09jFY%253D%26srv%3Dbeccx4yfxxbvyhqypaavemqurytl6hozr47wfc7uuecacjqdvwpw2xid.onion&data=%7B%22type%22%3A%22group%22%2C%22groupLinkId%22%3A%22hWnMVPnJl-KT3-virDk0JA%3D%3D%22%7D).
