Internationalization (i18n)

Multi-language sites with gettext PO/MO, RTL support, and translation workflows

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Bengal supports multi-language sites with directory-based content, gettext PO/MO translation files, plural-aware translations viant(), and full RTL (right-to-left) layout support for Arabic, Hebrew, and other bidirectional languages.

Quick Start

  1. Configure languages inbengal.toml:
TOML
[i18n]
default_language = "en"
strategy = "prefix"
content_structure = "dir"
languages = [
    { code = "en", name = "English", weight = 1 },
    { code = "es", name = "Español", weight = 2 },
    { code = "ar", name = "العربية", weight = 3, rtl = true },
]
  1. Create content per locale:
content/
├── en/
│   ├── _index.md
│   └── about.md
├── es/
│   ├── _index.md
│   └── about.md
└── ar/
    ├── _index.md
    └── about.md
  1. Add PO translation files for UI strings:
i18n/
├── en/LC_MESSAGES/messages.po
├── es/LC_MESSAGES/messages.po
└── ar/LC_MESSAGES/messages.po
  1. Uset()in templates:
HTML
<nav>
  <a href="/">{{ t("Home") }}</a>
  <a href="/about/">{{ t("About") }}</a>
</nav>
  1. Compile and build:
BASH
bengal i18n compile
bengal build

Translation Workflow

Step Command Description
Extract bengal i18n extract Scan templates fort() calls, generate .pot
Translate Edit.pofiles Add translations with a PO editor (e.g. Poedit)
Compile bengal i18n compile Compile.po → .mofor faster loading
Status bengal i18n status Check translation coverage per locale
Build bengal build Generate site

Key Concepts

  • Content structure:dir (content/en/, content/es/) or file(about.en.md, about.es.md)
  • URL strategy:prefix (/en/, /es/) or subdomain(en.example.com)
  • Fallback: When a key is missing, Bengal falls back to the default language
  • RTL: Arabic and Hebrew getdir="rtl" on <html>automatically

Guides

Quickstart

PO file setup, locale config, and translation workflow.
RTL Layout

CSS authoring for Arabic, Hebrew, and bidirectional sites.
Translator Guide

How to contribute translations and PO file conventions.

In This Section

i18n Quickstart Set up a bilingual site with gettext PO/MO in 5 minutes