# Several languages on one site

Source: [Several languages on one site](https://typeroll.com/docs/guides/multilingual-sites/)

> Serve two or more languages from one Typeroll site with language folders, such as Finnish at / and Swedish under /sv/.

One Typeroll site can serve several languages from language folders on the same domain, for example Finnish at `/` and Swedish under `/sv/`. This guide applies to Typeroll Cloud and self-hosted Typeroll CMS. When each language has its own domain, build one site per domain instead and link the versions with hreflang (see the multisite migration recipe).

## How a page gets its language

Every Page has its own `language` (a BCP 47 tag such as `sv-SE`). Pages without one use the site `language`. The page language sets `<html lang>`, the search index and the built-in interface wording, and it decides which language section the page belongs to. A right-to-left language such as Arabic or Hebrew also sets `<html dir="rtl">` and mirrors the built-in layout (see [right-to-left languages](https://typeroll.com/docs/tools/blocks/library/#right-to-left-languages)).

Set `language` on every page outside the site language. Setting it on the site-language pages as well makes listings and conditions easier to read.

## Declare the language sections

The site language needs no configuration. Declare each other language once in the site settings as a language section: its tag and its home page, which is also its path prefix.

```json
{
  "language": "fi",
  "language_sections": [
    {
      "language": "sv-SE",
      "home_path": "/sv/",
      "tagline": "Flytt utan stress",
      "default_meta_description": "Flyttfirma i Helsingfors.",
      "cookie_consent": {
        "text": "<p>Vi använder kakor för statistik.</p>",
        "privacy_policy_url": "/sv/cookies/"
      }
    }
  ]
}
```

Send it with `update_site_settings` or `PATCH /api/v1/sites/{siteId}/settings`. The list is replaced as a whole; `null` removes every section. A page belongs to the section whose tag matches its `language` exactly, or else the one with the same primary language (`sv` matches `sv-SE`).

A section gives its pages:

* **Home link:** the Site logo block and the Breadcrumbs block’s first crumb link to the section’s home page. On a site with sections the default crumb label follows the page language (“Startsida”, “Etusivu”); a label you write yourself is kept.
* **404 page:** a missing address under `/sv/` gets a Swedish 404 page with the Swedish header and footer and a link to `/sv/`. It is published as `/sv/404.html`, which hosts that serve the nearest 404 page, such as Cloudflare Pages, use automatically. Other addresses get the site’s `/404.html`.
* **Tagline and fallback description:** `tagline` and `default_meta_description` replace the site-wide values on the section’s pages, so the Site tagline block and pages without their own meta description use the section’s text.
* **Cookie banner wording:** `text`, `labels` and `privacy_policy_url` for the banner. Without `text` or `labels`, the banner uses its built-in wording in the section’s language rather than the site-wide custom text. Without `privacy_policy_url`, it links to the site-wide policy. Whether the banner is on, and which scripts it controls, stays site-wide.

## Header and footer per language

A site has one header and one footer. Put each language’s menu in a **Show if…** (`template/show_if`) block that tests the page language:

| Variant | Condition                   |
| ------- | --------------------------- |
| Swedish | `page.language === "sv-SE"` |
| Finnish | `page.language !== "sv-SE"` |

Only the matching branch is published on a page; the other is not in the HTML. The 404 pages use the same rule: the site’s 404 page has no page language, so it takes the Finnish branch, and `/sv/404.html` takes the Swedish one.

## Content types, templates and listings

Give each language its own Content type, for example `article-fi` at `/muuttovinkit/{slug}` and `article-sv` at `/sv/tips-om-flytt/{slug}`. A Content type owns one URL pattern, so the language folders need separate types anyway, and each type has its own Page template where headings, button labels and the Previous/Next and search labels are written in its language.

A listing then shows one language by selecting its Content type. A listing over several types can instead filter on `language` (`filter_field: "language"`, `filter_value: "sv-SE"`). A listing has one filter, so filtering on language leaves no filter for a category.

## Search and alternates

The Search block uses the page’s `<html lang>`: each language gets its own search index, and a search on a Swedish page returns Swedish pages.

Link the language versions of each page with `alternates` (hreflang), on all sides. Typeroll has no built-in language switcher. To add one, store the counterpart’s address in a Content type field such as `translation_url` and bind a button to `{{page.translation_url}}` inside a **Show if…** `page.translation_url`.

## Check it

After the next publication, open a page in each language and check its `<html lang>`, its hreflang links and the language section’s 404 page, for example `/sv/404.html`. `/llms.txt` lists each language section in its own groups, and `/sitemap.xml` carries the hreflang entries of pages with alternates.