> ## Documentation Index
> Fetch the complete documentation index at: https://docs.elementlabs.net/llms.txt
> Use this file to discover all available pages before exploring further.

# Language

> Choose the language the map speaks.

## Purpose

`configs/locales.jsonc` selects the language the map uses for the text players see: the legend
labels, the tab names, the on-screen prompts and the name given to a point of interest.

The map ships English and Italian. Adding another language, and rewording text in one that exists,
are described in [Languages and text](/sdk/localization).

## Options

| Key         | Default        | Meaning                                                                             |
| ----------- | -------------- | ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------- |
| `active`    | `"en"`         | The language the map uses.                                                          |
| `fallback`  | `"en"`         | The language used for any text missing from the active one.                         |
| `available` | `["en", "it"]` | The languages the map may use. A language absent from this list cannot be selected. |

Every value must name a file in the map's `locales` directory, without the extension: `it` needs
`locales/it.json`. Setting `active` to a language that is not in `available` uses `fallback`
instead, without any message in the console.

The language applies to every player on the server. There is no per-player language.

### What is translated

Every label the map draws: the legend, the tabs, the on-screen prompts for zooming, setting a
destination and placing a point of interest, the default name given to a point of interest, and the
label of the toggle key in the FiveM key-mapping menu.

Marker names are not translated here. A marker created by another resource carries the name that
resource gave it, in whatever language that resource uses.

## Example

Switching the map to Italian:

```jsonc theme={null}
{
  "namespace": "locales",
  "configVersion": 1,
  "scope": "shared",
  "values": {
    "active": "it"
  }
}
```

## Applying changes

```text theme={null}
restart element_map
```

## Safety

| Key         | Stay within                             | Why                                                                                                                            |
| ----------- | --------------------------------------- | ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ |
| `active`    | A language listed in `available`        | Anything else silently uses `fallback`.                                                                                        |
| `fallback`  | A language listed in `available`        | Anything else uses the first language in `available`. Point it at a language you keep complete: it is what fills in every gap. |
| `available` | Languages that have a file in `locales` | Listing a language with no file means selecting it produces a console warning and no text at all.                              |

If the map shows key names such as `hud.legend.title` instead of labels, the language file is
incomplete rather than missing. See [Text is wrong or
missing](/support/text-is-wrong-or-missing).

## Related

* [Languages and text](/sdk/localization): rewording text and adding a language
* [Configuration](/products/map/configuration/index)