# man > Date::Manip::Lang

---
type: CommandReference
command: Date::Manip::Lang
mode: perldoc
section: 
source: perldoc
---

## Quick Reference

- `$Config{'Language'} = 'en';` — English (default)
- `$Config{'Language'} = 'fr';` — French
- `$Config{'Language'} = 'de';` — German
- `$Config{'Language'} = 'es';` — Spanish
- `$Config{'Language'} = 'it';` — Italian
- `$Config{'Language'} = 'nl';` — Dutch
- `$Config{'Language'} = 'pt';` — Portuguese
- `$Config{'Language'} = 'ru';` — Russian

## Name

[Date::Manip::Lang](http://localhost/phpMan.php/perldoc/Date%3A%3AManip%3A%3ALang/markdown) - language support for [Date::Manip](http://localhost/phpMan.php/perldoc/Date%3A%3AManip/markdown)

## Synopsis

perl
use Date::Manip;
$Config{'Language'} = 'language_name';
## Options

- `Language` — config variable (string, default 'English'). Sets the language for date parsing. Supported languages and minimum versions:

  | Language | Version | Aliases |
  |----------|---------|---------|
  | English | default | en, en_us |
  | Catalan | 5.43 | ca |
  | Danish | 5.41 | da |
  | Dutch | 5.32 | Nederlands, nl |
  | Finnish | 6.31 | fi, fi_fi |
  | French | 5.02 | fr, fr_fr |
  | German | 5.31 | de, de_de |
  | Italian | 5.35 | it, it_it |
  | Norwegian | 6.21 | nb, nb_no |
  | Polish | 5.32 | pl, pl_pl |
  | Portuguese | 5.34 | pt, pt_pt |
  | Romanian | 5.35 | ro, ro_ro |
  | Russian | 5.41 | ru, ru_ru |
  | Spanish | 5.33 | es, es_es |
  | Swedish | 5.05 | sv |
  | Turkish | 5.41 | tr, tr_tr |

  All names and aliases are case insensitive.

## Adding a Language

To add a new language, follow these steps:

1. **Language name** — Provide the language name and common locale aliases (e.g., `spanish es es_es`).

2. **Copy the English module** — Copy `lib/Date/Manip/Lang/english.pm` to the new language file (e.g., `spanish.pm`).

3. **Adjust the module** — Change the package name from `english` to the new language. Update `@Encodings` (first should be `utf-8`, last `perl`). Set `$YearAdded` and `$LangName` appropriately.

4. **Translate terms** — The data section contains elements that must be translated. Refer to [Date::Manip::Lang::english](http://localhost/phpMan.php/perldoc/Date%3A%3AManip%3A%3ALang%3A%3Aenglish/markdown) for definitions. Requirements:
   - Every element must be defined (except optional `sephm` and `sepms`).
   - Use UTF-8 for non-ASCII characters.
   - For elements used by `printf` directives (`%p`, `%a`, `%v`, `%A`, `%b`, `%B`, `%E`), the first value in the list is the printable output.
   - Include ASCII-only variants for characters with diacritics (e.g., `sabado` and `sábado`). If no ASCII equivalent exists, include only UTF-8.

## See Also

- [Date::Manip](http://localhost/phpMan.php/perldoc/Date%3A%3AManip/markdown) — main module documentation