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Lichess is available in over 140 languages thanks to community translators on Crowdin. Your translations help make chess accessible to millions of players worldwide.

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Getting Started with Crowdin

1

Create a Crowdin account

Visit Lichess on Crowdin and create a free account.
2

Select your language

Choose the language you want to translate into. If your language isn’t listed, request it in the Crowdin project.
3

Start translating

Browse the translation files and start translating strings. Crowdin provides context and suggestions to help you.

Translate Lichess

Join over 140 languages on Crowdin

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Translation Files

Lichess translations are organized in XML files located in /translation/source/:

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File Structure

translation/
├── source/          # Source English strings
│   ├── site.xml
│   ├── arena.xml
│   ├── emails.xml
│   └── ...
├── dest/            # Translated strings (auto-generated)
│   ├── site/
│   │   ├── en-US.xml
│   │   ├── es-ES.xml
│   │   └── ...
│   └── ...
└── resources.dtd    # XML validation rules

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Source Files

The source/ directory contains the original English strings. These are what you translate on Crowdin.

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Destination Files

The dest/ directory contains completed translations. These are automatically generated by Crowdin and should not be edited manually.

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Crowdin Configuration

Lichess uses the following Crowdin settings:
crowdin.yml
files:
  - source: /translation/source/*.xml
    translation: /translation/dest/%file_name%/%locale%.%file_extension%
    translate_attributes: 0
    update_option: update_without_changes

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What This Means

  • source: English XML files from /translation/source/
  • translation: Output pattern for translated files
  • translate_attributes: XML attributes are not translated (only content)
  • update_option: Translations update even if source hasn’t changed

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Translation Workflow

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How Translations Get to Production

1

Translate on Crowdin

Contributors translate strings through the Crowdin web interface.
2

Automatic sync

Crowdin automatically syncs approved translations to the Lichess repository.
3

CI validation

GitHub Actions validate the XML files:
  • xmllint checks XML syntax
  • trans-lint checks translation quality
  • i18n-key-check verifies all keys are present
4

Build and deploy

Valid translations are built into the application and deployed to production.

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Commit Messages

When translations are synced from Crowdin, commits follow this pattern: 
New translations: site.xml (Spanish)

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Translation Validation

All translations go through automated validation:

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XML Lint

Validates XML structure against the DTD: 
xmllint --noout --dtdvalid translation/resources.dtd translation/**/*.xml
This ensures:
  • Proper XML formatting
  • Valid tags and structure
  • No syntax errors

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Translation Lint

Custom linting for translation quality: 
./bin/trans-lint translation/dest/*/*.xml
This checks:
  • Placeholder consistency (%s, %1$s, etc.)
  • Special character usage
  • HTML tag integrity

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i18n Key Check

Verifies that TypeScript i18n files are up-to-date: 
pnpm i18n-file-gen
./ui/build --i18n
If you modify translation source files locally, you must run pnpm i18n-file-gen and ./ui/build --i18n to regenerate TypeScript i18n files.

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Translation Best Practices

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Context Matters

Always consider the context when translating: 
<string name="play">Play</string>
<!-- Button to start a game -->
Crowdin provides screenshots and context to help you understand where strings appear.

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Preserve Placeholders

Always keep placeholders in translations: 
<string name="nbGamesPlayed">%s games played</string>

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HTML Tags

Keep HTML tags intact: 
<string name="welcome">Welcome to <em>Lichess</em>!</string>

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Consistency

Be consistent with terminology:
  • Use the same translation for repeated terms
  • Follow established conventions in your language
  • Check existing translations before adding new ones

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Length Considerations

Some UI elements have limited space:
Try to keep translations reasonably close to the original length, especially for buttons and short labels.
If a translation is much longer, it might not fit in the UI.

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Contributing Translation Changes Locally

If you need to modify source translation files:

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1. Edit Source Files

Modify files in /translation/source/: 
vim translation/source/site.xml

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2. Regenerate i18n Files

# Generate TypeScript i18n files
pnpm i18n-file-gen

# Build i18n assets
./ui/build --i18n

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3. Validate Changes

Run validation locally: 
# XML validation
xmllint --noout --dtdvalid translation/resources.dtd translation/**/*.xml

# Translation linting
./bin/trans-lint translation/dest/*/*.xml

# Check i18n files are up to date
git status --porcelain

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4. Commit Changes

Only commit source files (translation/source/) and generated i18n TypeScript files. Do not commit destination files (translation/dest/) as these come from Crowdin.
git add translation/source/*.xml
git add ui/@types/lichess/i18n.d.ts
git commit -m "Add new translation keys for feature X"

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Translation Coverage

Crowdin Check the Crowdin project page to see translation progress for all languages.

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Language Requirements

For a language to be available on Lichess:
  1. Core strings must be fully translated (site.xml, arena.xml, etc.)
  2. Translations must be approved by language moderators
  3. Language must be requested via Crowdin or GitHub issue

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Getting Help

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Crowdin Support

  • Discussion threads: Use Crowdin’s discussion feature to ask about specific strings
  • Language moderators: Reach out to moderators for your language
  • Crowdin forums: Get help from the Crowdin community

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Lichess Community

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Recognition

Translators are recognized on:
  • lichess.org/thanks - Thanks page listing all contributors
  • Crowdin project page - Shows top translators
  • About pages - Language-specific acknowledgments

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Next Steps

Start Translating

Join Lichess translators on Crowdin

Contributing Overview

Explore other ways to contribute

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