🌍 Localization & Language Support

NH Reader speaks your language. The interface defaults to your operating system language, and you can pick a different one at any time in Settings.

Only the app interface is translated. Gallery titles, tags, and artwork come from nhentai.net in whatever language they were published in — those are never machine-translated by the app, because that would corrupt search and filtering.

🎯 Choosing a language

In the app — open Settings → Appearance → Language and pick from the list. The change applies immediately; no restart needed.

Automatic selection — on first launch, NH Reader asks the operating system for its locale (en-US → English, ja-JP → Japanese, zh-CN → Simplified Chinese, and so on). If your system language has no pack yet, NH Reader falls back to English until you choose one.

📦 Language packs

English (en.json) is the default hand-rolled language pack provided with the application. Other languages are provided as drop-in packs contributed by fluent community members.

If a language pack is missing or does not yet have a translation for a specific string, the application automatically falls back to your operating system locale (if available) and then to English.

🤝 Contributing a translation

Localization files are entirely drop-in. Contributors never have to edit multiple files or code to add a language.

Adding a new language

Copy the English template:
```
cp src/lib/i18n/en.json src/lib/i18n/<locale>.json
```
Use a standard BCP-47 locale tag (e.g. ja.json, es.json, fr.json, de.json, zh-Hans.json).
Translate the strings. Keep every key structure unchanged. You can optionally include a _meta object with "name" and "nativeName" if you want to customize how the language appears in settings.
Run the validator:
```
npm run check:i18n
```
It automatically discovers your new drop-in file and validates that all keys match en.json.
Open a pull request with only your JSON file. That is the entire process.

Style guidelines

Be concise. These are short interface labels in a dense UI. Prefer the shortest form a native speaker would actually use — long sentences shrink the window and look wrong.
Keep placeholders intact. Strings like ~128 MB or Enter may embed literal text.
Use the app’s own vocabulary. The bottom navigation bar calls views Latest / Popular / Favorites / History / Downloads / Blacklist / Settings. Translate the concept, not word-for-word, and stay consistent within a language.
Mind the UI language. zh-Hans and zh-Hant are genuinely different files. Arabic is right-to-left; keep the wording neutral so layout mirrors correctly.
Punctuation and spacing follow the target language’s own conventions (full-width punctuation in CJK, non-breaking spaces before : in French, and so on).

Free resources for getting it right

If you want to be certain a phrase reads naturally, cross-check against these free sources:

DeepL glossary — https://www.deepl.com
Wiktionary for term consistency — https://www.wiktionary.org
translate-i18n community terminology databases — https://github.com/translate-i18n
Microsoft terminology (many UI terms defined per locale) — https://www.microsoft.com
Your own OS: many desktop apps are already localized into your language. Inconsistent machine translation is easy to spot once you have seen how a competent app words the same button.

For the full list of translation keys and their JSON structural schema, see CONTRIBUTING.md.

🧱 How localization works under the hood

File	Role
`src/lib/i18n/en.json`	Source of truth. Every key must exist here first. Includes `_meta` configuration.
`src/lib/i18n/<locale>.json`	Drop-in language pack with optional `_meta` header.
`src/lib/i18n/index.ts`	Dynamically imports all drop-in `.json` packs via `LocaleCatalog` with system locale fallback.
`src/lib/stores/locale.svelte.ts`	Reactive current locale, system detection, persistence.
`scripts/check-i18n.mjs`	`npm run check:i18n` validator.

Lookup is locale.t('installer.welcomeTitle') — a dotted key resolved against the active dictionary. Missing keys silently fall back to English rather than rendering a raw key, so a partial pack degrades gracefully instead of breaking the UI.

Your choice is stored in the local database (settings:locale) and reused by both the installer and the app, so they always agree.

📚 Documentation Index

Core: Home · Getting Started · Installation & Maintenance
App Features: Search & Filters · Blacklist · Favorites & History · Reader & Galleries · Settings & API Key · Localization
Architecture & Development: Architecture · Backend (Rust) · Frontend (SvelteKit) · Packaging & Bundling · Development & Contributing
Reference: Security · Privacy · Troubleshooting · FAQ

NH Reader — a lightweight, modern, cross-platform client for nhentai.net.

Documentation Home · Repository · Releases · Security · Privacy · TOS · License