Languge Files Overview Our Extensions uses native Joomla language procedures.  Translate example - JomDirectory We have created an installation package that can be translated and adapted to any language. com_jomdirectory_en-GB.zip Please notice that file version is 6.1 . While you are reading there can be the newest version. Here is a procedure to translate the extension and create a language pack: Unpack the files To translate extension into any language file jomdirectory_en_GB.zip needs to be downloaded (link above) and unpacked to some temporary directory. Structure of the folders will looks like this: These are the folders containing translations for the extensions and modules. The last file is the installation file. Changes files names to new language If we would like to translate e.g. into German we would need change all the names from en_GB to de_DE accordingly: Translate all phrases inside files We need to translate all the phrases in the files, these are in double quotes e.g: COM_JOMCOMDEV_HOME_CATEGORIES=" Kategorien " Edit installation file After translation is done, edit jomdirectory_de_de_language_pack xml and change all names accordingly: JomDirectory Sprachpaket Deutsch 2.5.0 AUTHOR YOUR EMAIL Copyright (C) 2011 Comdev. Alle Rechte vorbehalten. http://www.gnu.org/licenses/gpl-2.0.html GNU/GPL JomDirectory Sprachpaket Deutsch index.html de-DE.com_jomdirectory.ini de-DE.com_jomdirectory.sys.ini index.html de-DE.com_jomcomdev.ini de-DE.com_jomcomdev.sys.ini index.html de-DE.com_jomdirectory.ini index.html de-DE.com_jomcomdev.ini index.html de-DE.mod_jomdirectory_items.ini de-DE.mod_jomdirectory_items.sys.ini index.html de-DE.mod_jomdirectory_search.ini Please make sure to insert your email: YOUR EMAIL for further updates. As seen above all en_GB has been changed to de_DE. Zip package The last step is to zip all files and create a new file: jomdirectory_de_DE.zip Test package Now go to your Joomla and install package, if everything goes right component will be translated, upload it on the Forum in Localizations If any errors? It is worth to turn on language debug under Joomla to check if any language errors occur and need to be corrected. These will be visible under the page flashing on red, also, lines will be provided in which error occurs. The most common error is enclosed double quotes e.g: COM_JOMCOMDEV_HOME_CATEGORIES=" Kategorien Unicode UTF8 Compatibility Language files have to be saved with the encoding UTF8 NO BOM . Please see the Joomla documentation on the link below for more information on Joomla language files. http://docs.joomla.org/Creating_a_language_definition_file For technical information about this topic see: 2.6 Encoding Schemes http://www.unicode.org/versions/Unicode5.0.0/ch02.pdf and http://stackoverflow.com/questions/2223882/whats-different-between-utf-8-and-utf-8-without-bom