Languages & Translations.

Reward Loyalty is designed to be global. It supports multiple languages and automatically detects a visitor's preferred language based on their browser settings. You can easily manage active languages, add new translations, and configure text direction.

Available Languages

The platform includes 12 pre-built translations:

RTL Support: Arabic includes full right-to-left support. All interface elements automatically adjust for RTL languages.

How It Works

The platform uses a folder-based structure for languages. Each language lives in its own directory within lang/ (e.g., lang/en_US/, lang/pt_BR/).

When a user visits your site:

1. The system checks their browser language
2. If that language is active, it's shown
3. If not, the system falls back to your default language (usually en_US)

Managing Languages

Activating a Language

To enable a language so it appears in the language selector:

1. Navigate to the language's directory: lang/<locale>/
2. Open the config.php file
3. Set 'active' => true

return [
    'active' => true,
    'dir' => 'ltr', // 'ltr' for Left-to-Right, 'rtl' for Right-to-Left
];

Deactivating a Language

To hide a language:

1. Open lang/<locale>/config.php
2. Set 'active' => false

Alternatively, you can delete the language folder entirely if you're sure you won't need it.

Note: If only one language is active, the language selector automatically hides itself.

Adding a New Language

Want to add a language that isn't included?

1. Copy the Base: Duplicate the lang/en_US/ folder
2. Rename: Rename the new folder to your target locale (e.g., nl_NL for Dutch)
   • Format: language_COUNTRY (ISO 639-1 language code + ISO 3166-1 country code)
3. Translate: Open the files inside the new folder and translate the values
4. Activate: Set 'active' => true in your new config.php

Language File Structure

Each language folder contains:

lang/en_US/
├── config.php          # Active status and text direction
├── common.php          # Main interface strings
├── validation.php      # Form validation messages
├── otp.php             # Login and verification messages
├── faq.php             # FAQ questions and answers (the qa array)
├── install.php         # Installer text
├── javascript.php      # Strings used by front-end scripts
├── agent.php           # AI assistant strings
└── md/                 # Markdown content pages
    ├── about.md        # About page
    ├── contact.md      # Contact page
    ├── privacy.md      # Privacy policy
    └── terms.md        # Terms of service

Editing Content Pages

The About, Contact, Privacy Policy, and Terms pages are stored as Markdown files.

To edit one of these pages:

1. Go to lang/<locale>/md/
2. Open the relevant .md file (for example, privacy.md)
3. Edit the text using Markdown syntax. The title, description, and icon at the top of the file (the frontmatter) set the page's heading and hero.

The FAQ is different. It is not a Markdown page. Its questions and answers live in lang/<locale>/faq.php, inside the qa array — each entry has a q (question) and an a (answer), and answers may include light HTML. Edit that file to change, add, or remove questions.

Setting the Default Language

If your application should default to a language other than English, add these variables to your .env file:

APP_LOCALE=pt_BR
APP_FALLBACK_LOCALE=pt_BR

Protecting Custom Translations During Updates

⚠️ Important: When you add or modify translations, you must protect them from being overwritten during automatic updates.

Add your custom translation directories to your .env file:

# Protect custom German and French translations
PROTECTED_TRANSLATIONS="de_DE,fr_FR"

Multiple directories are separated by commas. These paths are relative to the lang/ folder.

Why This Matters

When you update Reward Loyalty:

• The updater replaces core language files with new versions
• Any customizations you made would be lost
• Protected paths are automatically backed up and restored

What to Protect

Protect any language folder where you have:

• Translated content for a new language
• Modified existing translations
• Added custom Markdown content (privacy policy, terms, etc.)

Protecting Other Custom Files

For custom files or directories outside of translations:

# Protect additional custom paths
PROTECTED_PATHS="custom/branding/,my-config.php"

Learn more: See Updating for complete documentation on how updates work and file preservation.

Related Topics

• Updating — How updates work and protecting custom files
• Branding — Customize your platform appearance
• System Settings — All admin configuration options