Reference locale

Every inlang project has a base locale (baseLocale in settings.json), usually English. Fink calls it the reference locale and marks it with a ref badge.

What the reference is used for

• It is the default From language: the text you read while translating.
• Checks compare each translation with it. If the reference uses {count} and the German text doesn't, German gets a "Missing {count}" problem.
• Its plural forms and selects decide which forms other languages need.

Translate from another language

In the language menu, set From to any language, for example to translate Swiss German from German. Checks then compare against that language while you work. The project's base locale doesn't change.

Edit the reference text

The reference row is editable like any translation: click it and type. You can also add or remove its plural forms, or split it by a number with Split English by {count} in the message's ··· menu.

When you add a variable such as {count} to the reference, Fink checks the other languages again, so they show Missing {count} until it's added there too.

Change the base locale

Change Reference locale in the Settings tab and push. Fink writes the new baseLocale to settings.json. Paraglide JS reads the base locale from the same file. i18next has its own settings, such as fallbackLng, so update those in your code as well.