# man > Date::Manip::Lang

---
type: CommandReference
command: Date::Manip::Lang
mode: perldoc
section: 3pm
source: perldoc
---

## Quick Reference

- `use Date::Manip::Lang;` — load language support module
- `Config->set('Language', 'es')` — set parsing language to Spanish
- `$date->parse_date('...')` — parse date strings using configured language
- Add a new language: copy `english.pm` to `spanish.pm`, update package name, encodings, `$YearAdded`, `$LangName`, and translate all terms.
- Language aliases (case-insensitive): English=en,en_us; Catalan=ca; Danish=da; Dutch=Nederlands,nl; Finnish=fi,fi_fi; French=fr,fr_fr; German=de,de_de; Italian=it,it_it; Norwegian=nb,nb_no; Polish=pl,pl_pl; Portuguese=pt,pt_pt; Romanian=ro,ro_ro; Russian=ru,ru_ru; Spanish=es,es_es; Swedish=sv; Turkish=tr,tr_tr.

## Name

`Date::Manip::Lang` — language support for `Date::Manip`

## Synopsis

perl
use Date::Manip::Lang;
The language is chosen by setting the `Language` config variable to the language name or any alias.

## Options

(No options; language selection is done via configuration.)

## Examples

### Supported Languages

| Language | Minimum 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 |

### Adding a New Language

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 a new file (e.g., `spanish.pm`).
3. **Modify the new module**:
   - Change package name from `english` to the new language (e.g., `spanish`).
   - Set `@Encodings`: first `utf-8`, last `perl`, include any others.
   - Set `$YearAdded` and `$LangName` appropriately.
4. **Translate terms**: Replace English values with the new language translations. Every element must be defined except `sephm` and `sepms` (optional). Use UTF-8 for non-ASCII characters. For elements used in `printf` directives (`%p`, `%a`, `%v`, `%A`, `%b`, `%B`, `%E`), the first value in the list is the printable output. If possible, include both UTF-8 and ASCII-only variants.

## See Also

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