Version at: 14/10/2015, 16:16

# How to request a new language to be added

**NOTE: For the foreseeable future, we will only honor language requests by native speakers who are planning to add a substantial number of their own sentences directly to Tatoeba. The language must have an [ISO 639-3](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ISO_639-3) (three-letter) code. Each language added makes the process of selecting a language from the interface more difficult, so we only want to add languages that we expect to have a substantial presence on Tatoeba. In addition, we need to be able to verify that the sentences added are correct, which we cannot do without native speakers.**

## Do these 3 things

1. Add 10 or more sentences in your language.

    * Use auto-detect when submitting sentences.

    * After submitting a sentence, click the flag icon and choose "other language."

2. [Create a list](https://tatoeba.org/eng/sentences_lists/index) with the name of the language.  Add your sentences to this list.

3. Send an e-mail to team@tatoeba.org with the following information:

    * The name of the list that you created.

    * The name of the language in English.
 
    * An icon (a flag, or something else) that can be used for the language. You can send us either an image or a link to an image.
 
    * The [3-letter ISO code](http://www-01.sil.org/iso639-3/codes.asp?order=reference_name&letter=a) for the language.  We only add languages that have a 3-letter ISO code.

## More Details

**1) IMPORTANT:** We cannot add your language if it does not have an [ISO 639-3](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ISO_639-3) (three-letter) code. Two languages without ISO 639-3 codes were added before this policy was instituted, but we are not planning to add any more.

**2)** In your email, tell us what icon we can use for each requested language, or better yet, send it to us. You will save us the most work if it is already of the format we use in the system (30 pixels wide by 20 pixels high, of which the bottom and right edges should be a 1-pixel wide gray line, hex code DCDCDC), but that is not required. The icon does not necessarily have to be the flag of a country. We just want an uncopyrighted picture that people can easily associate with the language. Keep in mind that our icons are only 30x20 pixels.

**3)** Translate 10 sentences into your language(s). Choose auto-detect when selecting the language for the sentences. The language detection is likely to fail, but click on the language icon and select "other language" in the list that appears. (It's the first option.) After the new language is added to Tatoeba, you will be able to set it correctly for these sentences.

**4)** Create a public list and give it the name of your language. Add your 10 translations to that list. Feel free to translate more than 10 sentences, but always add them to the list, so that we can easily find them.

**IMPORTANT:** We will only add your language(s) if you have done all of this. Even so, it may take a while before the language is added.

# Pending requests

You will find [here](https://github.com/Tatoeba/tatoeba2/issues?q=is%3Aopen+is%3Aissue+label%3Alang_request) the list of languages that have been requested but have not been added yet.

Don't hesitate to send us again a request if you do not see your request in the list, because we may have not received your request.

Feel free as well to send us a request even if someone else requested the language before you. The more people request a language and the higher priority it will be.

# Procedure for developers

=> [Adding a language in Tatoeba](http://en.wiki.tatoeba.org/articles/show/adding-lang-to-corpus#)


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Return to [http://tatoeba.org/home](http://tatoeba.org/home).

version at: 18/10/2015, 10:45

# How to request a new language to be added

This article explains how to request a new language to be added in Tatoeba. Note that this concerns the languages of the **sentences**, not the language of the interface. For the language of the interface, refer to the article about the [interface translation](interface-translation).

## Requirements

We add languages based on the [ISO 639-3 classification](http://www-01.sil.org/iso639-3/?_ga=GA1.2.668062843.1444763156&_gat=1). Therefore the main requirement for your language to be added in Tatoeba is that it can be identified in the [ISO 639-3 list of languages](http://www-01.sil.org/iso639-3/codes.asp?order=reference_name&letter=a).

There are currently 2 exceptions: CycL and Toki Pona. These languages are not recognized in the ISO 639-3 classification. They however exist in Tatoeba because they were added long ago, before the decision was made to follow the ISO 639-3 classification.

## If your want to add sentences in a new language

* You are allowed to add sentences in a language that is not yet supported in Tatoeba, as long as the language is listed in the ISO 639-3 classification.

* When you add your sentences, choose the option "Auto detect" for the language.

* After the sentences is added, if the language was not identified as "unknown" (you will see an icon with a question mark if it is), then click on the language icon and select "other language".

* If you are adding sentences in languages that are not part of the ISO 639-3 classification, we may delete them.

* Members of Tatoeba will regularly be checking whether or not there are sentences added in new languages, and will report new languages on [GitHub](https://github.com/Tatoeba/tatoeba2/labels/lang_request).

## Things you can do to help

At this point you do not need to do anything else to see your languages being someday supported in Tatoeba, but doing the following will help a lot to speed up the process:

1. [Create a list](https://tatoeba.org/eng/sentences_lists/index) with the name of the language in English and the ISO code in parenthesis. For example: Friulian (fur).  Add your sentences to this list. Make sure that the list is "collaborative".

2. Send a private message to [Ricardo14](https://tatoeba.org/eng/user/profile/Ricardo14) with the following information:
    * The link to the list that you created. For example: https://tatoeba.org/eng/sentences_lists/show/4756
    * An image that can be used to visually represent the language. The final icon will be 30x20 pixels, so don't choose an image that has too much detail that won't be visible at a small scale.


## Pending requests

You will find on GitHub the [list of languages that have been requested](https://github.com/Tatoeba/tatoeba2/issues?q=is%3Aopen+is%3Aissue+label%3Alang_request) but have not been added yet.

Don't hesitate to contact [Ricardo14](https://tatoeba.org/eng/user/profile/Ricardo14) if you don't see your language in the list.

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* **Last update:** October 18th, 2015

* [Procedure for developers](http://en.wiki.tatoeba.org/articles/show/adding-lang-to-corpus#)

* Return to [Tatoeba homepage](http://tatoeba.org/home).

Note

The lines in green are the lines that have been added in the new version. The lines in red are those that have been removed.

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