Language packs are created in two steps. In Step 1, select the language pack you require and supply the field values as described below. When you have completed this, click to proceed to Step 2.
| Language | The language of the language pack |
|---|---|
| Name | The English name of the language. This is usually determined by the Language selection, but you can optionally modify it if you want to. |
| Internal Name | Also called 'Endonym', this is the language name as it would be in the language itself. For example, the internal name, or endonym, for French is Français. As with the Name field above, this is usually determined by the Language selection, but you can modify it if you want to. |
| 3-Letter Code | This is the 3-letter ISO code for the language. More
specifically it is the 639-2/T code. You do not have to
enter this code - indeed you can't. The code is determined
by your selection in the Language field above. ISO stands for 'International Organization for Standardization'. |
| Variant | Every language pack has a unique "Language Id", which is used to
identify it. Typically this will consist simply of the
3-letter code for the language. So, for example, you might
have a language pack for french, with language id "FRA". If
you want to have more than one language pack for french, you
must add a value to the Variant field to allow the variant to be
distinguished. A single letter or number would
suffice. If a variant is supplied, the language id
will consist of the 3-letter code followed by the variant value,
with a space separating the two parts. So, for example, if
the Variant value for a second french language pack was '2', the
language id would be 'FRA 2'. If you are creating a language pack which is used for translation from one language into another, where neither language is English, you are recommended to use the Variant field to indicate this. For example, if you want to create a language pack for translating from Polish to Russian, the 3-letter code will be 'RUS' because you are translating into Russian. But you should set the Variant to "[project=POL]" (or similar) to indicate that the language pack expects the project language to be Polish. |
| Description | Describes what the language pack does. If this is your
language pack, it is a good idea to use this field to describe the
purpose of the language pack. For example, if it supports
both same-language rendering (e.g. French-to-French), you can say
this. If it also supports other-language translation (e.g.
English-to-French) you can mention this too. |