---
title: "Add a language to your environment"
slug: "add-a-language-to-your-environment"
abstract: "Add an existing language or a custom locale to your environment."
---
# Add a language to your environment

Before you can create a version of an item or site in a new language, you must add the new language to your environment. A language indicates both language and country or region, for example, *en-au* or *English (Australia)*. You can select a predefined language or add a custom language.

Once a language has been added to an environment, it can be enabled for a specific site in [Sites](https://doc.sitecore.com/sai/en/users/sitecoreai/manage-languages-and-locales.html) or in Content Editor.

## Add a predefined language

Sitecore offers a comprehensive list of predefined languages that also include locales, such as French (Canada).

To add a predefined language:

1. In the Content Editor, go to */sitecore/System/Languages*.
2. Right-click and then click **Insert** > **Language**.
3. In the **Add a New Language** dialog, in the **Choose a predefined language code** field, select the language and country code you want to use.
4. Click **Next** and fill in other fields as required.

    ![ ](https://doc.sitecore.com/api/markdown-image/sai/en/developers/sitecoreai/images/XMC_CE_language.png)

5. When you are finished, click **Close**. The new language is added to the content tree.
6. [Populate the Solr schema](https://doc.sitecore.com/sai/en/developers/sitecoreai/development/solr-managed-schemas.html "Solr managed schemas") for the sitecore_master_index only.

## Add a custom language

To target a more specific audience, you can add a custom language by combining an ISO language code with any country/region code. You can also add a custom language with a non-standard country/region code, for example, `en-EU`. For information on supported languages, see Microsoft's CultureInfo documentation.

To add a new custom language:

1. In the Content Editor, go to */sitecore/System/Languages*.
2. Right-click and then click **Insert** > **Language**.
3. In the **Add a New Language** dialog, in the **Language** field, enter the language you want to use. It must be an existing .Net language.
4. In the **Country/region code** field, enter the country code you want to use. This can be an existing .Net region, or a new region defined by two letters.
5. Click **Next** to step through the remaining pages of the wizard and leave all other fields with their default values.
6. When you are finished, click **Close**. The new language is added to the content tree.
7. Click the new language to open its content area. In the **Custom Culture** section, in the **Base ISO Culture Code** field, enter the language code you want to use as the base for your new language.

    For example, if you want your new language to use the same writing system, calendar, and date format as American English, enter `en-US`.

8. If you are using a non-standard country/region code, in the **Fallback Region Display Name** field, enter the region name you want to display.
9. Click **Save**.
10. [Populate the Solr schema](https://doc.sitecore.com/sai/en/developers/sitecoreai/development/solr-managed-schemas.html "Solr managed schemas") for the sitecore_master_index only.