Setting the UI language

The UI of the editor can be localized. CKEditor 5 currently supports around 90 languages and the number is growing.

See the demo of the editor in Spanish:

# Right–to–left (RTL) languages support

CKEditor 5 supports right–to–left languages out–of–the–box. When one of RTL languages is used, the WYSIWYG editor adapts its UI for the best editing experience, for instance, mirroring various elements like toolbars, dropdowns, buttons, etc.

See the demo of the editor in Arabic:

We are doing our best to deliver the best RTL support to our users and we constantly improve the editor. Check out the RTL support issue on GitHub to learn more and stay up–to–date. Your feedback is much appreciated!

# Loading additional languages from CDN, npm and zip file

By default, the editor will display in English. This is the language built into the ckeditor.js files. In order to change the language of the editor UI, you need to load additional language file(s). Check out the following sections to see how to do that:

• CDN,
• npm,
• Zip download.

Next, you can configure the editor to use the chosen language:

ClassicEditor
    .create( document.querySelector( '#editor' ), {
        // The language code is defined in the https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ISO_639-1 standard.
        language: 'es'
    } )
    .then( editor => {
        console.log( editor );
    } )
    .catch( error => {
        console.error( error );
    } );

# CDN

To use a different language than the default one (English), you need to load the editor together with the preferred language:

<script src="https://cdn.ckeditor.com/ckeditor5/[version.number]/[distribution]/ckeditor.js"></script>
<script src="https://cdn.ckeditor.com/ckeditor5/[version.number]/[distribution]/translations/[lang].js"></script>

For example:

<script src="https://cdn.ckeditor.com/ckeditor5/19.0.0/classic/ckeditor.js"></script>
<script src="https://cdn.ckeditor.com/ckeditor5/19.0.0/classic/translations/de.js"></script>

See the CDN installation guide for more information.

# npm

After installing the build from npm, languages will be available in node_modules/@ckeditor/ckeditor5-build-[name]/build/translations/[lang].js.

A single language can be loaded directly to your code by importing e.g. '@ckeditor/ckeditor5-build-classic/build/translations/de.js'.

See the npm installation guide for more information.

# Zip

All additional languages are included in the .zip file. You need to include the ckeditor.js file together with the chosen language file:

<script src="[ckeditor-path]/ckeditor.js"></script>
<script src="[ckeditor-path]/translations/de.js"></script>

See the zip installation guide for more information.

# Building the editor using a specific language

Currently, it is possible to change the UI language at the build stage and after the build. A single build of the editor supports the language which was defined in the CKEditor 5 webpack plugin’s configuration. Check the whole translation process to see how you can change the language later.

If you use one of the predefined editor builds, refer to Creating custom builds to learn how to change the language of your build.

If you build CKEditor 5 from scratch or integrate it directly into your application, then all you need to do is to:

1. Install the @ckeditor/ckeditor5-dev-webpack-plugin package:

   npm install --save @ckeditor/ckeditor5-dev-webpack-plugin
   

2. Add it to your webpack configuration:

   Note: The language code is defined in the ISO 639-1 standard.

   const CKEditorWebpackPlugin = require( '@ckeditor/ckeditor5-dev-webpack-plugin' );
   
   // Define webpack plugins...
       plugins: [
           new CKEditorWebpackPlugin( {
               // The main language that will be built into the main bundle.
               language: 'en',
   
               // Additional languages that will be emitted to the `outputDirectory`.
               // This option can be set to an array of language codes or `'all'` to build all found languages.
               // The bundle is optimized for one language when this option is omitted.
               additionalLanguages: 'all',
   
               // An optional directory for emitted translations. Relative to the webpack's output.
               // Defaults to `'translations'`.
               // outputDirectory: 'ckeditor5-translations',
   
               // Whether the build process should fail if an error occurs.
               // Defaults to `false`.
               // strict: true,
   
               // Whether to log all warnings to the console.
               // Defaults to `false`.
               // verbose: true
           } ),
   
           // Other webpack plugins...
       ]
   // ...
   

3. Run webpack. The CKEditor 5 plugin for webpack will emit additional files for each language specified in the additionalLanguages option. They will contain translations for messages from the t() function calls. The files will be created in the translations directory (or another one if the outputDirectory option is specified). Translations from the language specified in the language option will be automatically included in the build.

4. If you want to change the language after the build ends, you will need to edit the index.html file, add the translation file, and set the UI language to the target one.

   <script src="../build/ckeditor.js"></script>
   <script src="../build/translations/de.js"></script>
   <script>
       ClassicEditor
           .create( document.querySelector( '#editor' ), {
               language: 'de'
           } )
           .then( editor => {
               window.editor = editor;
           } )
           .catch( err => {
               console.error( err.stack );
           } );
   </script>
   

# Setting the language of the content

In CKEditor 5 you can separately configure the language of the UI and the language of the content. This means you can use the English UI of the editor but type your content in Arabic or Hebrew. The language of the content has an impact on the editing experience, for instance it affects screen readers and spell checkers. It is also particularly useful for typing in certain languages (e.g. right–to–left ones) because it changes the default alignment of the text.

Configure config.language to change the language of the content. In this example, the UI of the editor will be English but the content will be Arabic:

ClassicEditor
    .create( document.querySelector( '#editor' ), {
        language: {
            // The UI will be English.
            ui: 'en',

            // But the content will be edited in Arabic.
            content: 'ar'
        }
    } )
    .then( editor => {
        window.editor = editor;
    } )
    .catch( err => {
        console.error( err.stack );
    } );