---
title: "Access alternate languages of an item"
slug: "access-alternate-languages-of-an-item"
abstract: "How to access alternate languages of an item using the Sitecore.Globalization.Language class."
---
# Access alternate languages of an item

Each item can contain multiple languages. You can use the `Sitecore.Globalization.Language` class to specify a language when accessing an item using the `Sitecore.Data.Database.GetItem()` method. For example, to access the current version of the */Sitecore/Content/Home* item in the default en language:

```

Sitecore.Data.Database master = Sitecore.Configuration.Factory.GetDatabase("master");

Sitecore.Globalization.Language language = Sitecore.Globalization.Language.Parse("en");

Sitecore.Data.Items.Item home = master.GetItem("/sitecore/content/home",language);

```

> [!note]
> If you do not specify a language, Sitecore uses the context language by default. Sitecore user interface components specify the content language.

You can use the `Sitecore.Data.Items.Item.Versions.Count` property to determine if any versions exist for a language. For example, to access the current version in each language of the */Sitecore/Content/Home* item in the *Master* database:

```csharp
Sitecore.Data.Database master = Sitecore.Configuration.Factory.GetDatabase("master");

Sitecore.Data.Items.Item home = master.GetItem("/sitecore/content/home");

foreach (Sitecore.Globalization.Language language in home.Languages)
{
    Sitecore.Data.Items.Item langItem = home.Database.GetItem(home.ID, language);

    if (langItem.Versions.Count > 0)
    {
        // Process language item
    }
}

```