---
title: "Add a new language to system settings"
slug: "add-a-new-language-to-system-settings"
abstract: "Add a new language definition to Experience Manager system settings."
---
# Add a new language to system settings

## Add a predefined language

Before you can create a version of an item or site in a new language, you must add the new language to your XM Cloud environment. A language in XM Cloud 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.

To add a predefined language to system settings:

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 box, in the **Choose a predefined language code** field, select the language and country code you want to use.
4. Complete the remaining fields as required and click **Next** to step through the remaining pages of the wizard.

    ![The Add a New Language dialog box in Sitecore Content Editor.](https://doc.sitecore.com/api/markdown-image/xp/en/users/104/sitecore-experience-platform/images/XMC_CE_language.png)

5. When you are finished, click **Close**.

    The new language is added to the content tree.

## 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 nonstandard country/region code, for example, `en-EU`. For information on supported languages, see [Microsoft's CultureInfo documentation](https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/dotnet/api/system.globalization.cultureinfo?view=netframework-4.8#culture-names-and-identifiers).

To add a new custom language to system settings:

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 box, 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 nonstandard country/region code, in the **Fallback Region Display Name** field, enter the region name you want to display.
9. Click **Save**.

## Add a custom language with a custom culture

Sitecore supports all the languages available in the .NET `CultureInfo` class. If you want to add a language that is not available in the default cultures, you first register a custom culture, then add it to the `LanguageDefinitions.config` file to make it available in the system settings.

When you add a new language in Sitecore system settings, the languages available in the drop-down menu of the **Add a New Language** dialog are determined by the list of languages in the `LanguageDefinitions.config` file. However, you also have the option of typing in the language manually in the system settings.

To add a new custom language with a custom culture:

1. Register a custom .NET culture by creating a simple console application, as explained in [Microsoft documentation](https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/dotnet/api/system.globalization.cultureandregioninfobuilder?view=netframework-4.8.1).
2. Run the application once on each Sitecore environment server.
3. Open the language config file under `\App_Config\LanguageDefinitions.config`.
4. Add the language in the following format. The language definition must match the .NET custom culture.

    ```text
    <language id="pt" region="MX" codepage="65001" encoding="utf-8" charset="iso-XXXX" icon="flags/16x16/flag_Mexic.PNG" />
    ```

5. In the Content Editor, go to */sitecore/System/Languages*.
6. Right-click and then click **Insert, Language**.
7. If you added the language to the config file, in the **Add a New Language** dialog box, in the **Choose a predefined language code** field, select the language and country code you want to use. Alternatively, type the language code manually. In both cases, the language code must match the registered custom culture.
8. Complete the remaining fields as required and click **Next** to step through the remaining pages of the wizard.
9. When you are finished, click **Close**. The new language is added to the content tree.