# General Translation Knowledge Base: How do I translate a React Native app? URL: https://generaltranslation.com/en-GB/kb/translate-react-native-app.mdx Docs index: https://generaltranslation.com/llms.txt Description: Mark the text in your components, generate a translation file for each language, add Intl polyfills, and load the file for the device's language. With General Translation's experimental gt-react-native, you wrap text in ``, a Babel plugin adds the polyfills and npx gt translate writes the files. Category: Internationalisation Last updated: 2026-10-21 Authors: Kevin Liu, Kevin Wu Published: 2026-10-21 Translating a React Native app means marking the text in your components, producing a translation for each language and loading the one that matches the device's language. React Native's JavaScript runtime does not ship the full `Intl` APIs that format numbers, dates and plurals, so the app needs polyfills. The Metro bundler cannot resolve computed import paths, so each translation file needs a static `require` call. Every release then adds new strings, which must be translated into each language before the release ships. ## Video The video is narrated in English, with English captions. [How do I translate a React Native app?](https://caxecubb9c64cezv.public.blob.vercel-storage.com/films/kb-translate-react-native-app.mp4) (47 secs) General Translation lets you translate a React Native app with `gt-react-native` and `T`. Add its Babel plugin, call `initializeGT` with `loadTranslations`, mark the welcome with ``, run `npx gt translate`, and run it as a development build. ## Ways to translate a React Native app | Approach | What it does well | What it leaves to you | | ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- | ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- | ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- | | An internationalisation (i18n) library alone ([`i18next`](/kb/general-translation-vs-i18next), [`react-intl`](/kb/general-translation-vs-react-intl)) | Mature runtimes for rendering translations and formatting values | Moving every string into key files, replacing the text in each `` with a key lookup, adding the `Intl` polyfills, and producing and maintaining every translation | | `expo-localization` or `react-native-localize` | Read the device's preferred languages and regional settings, so the app can pick a starting locale | Everything after that: a library to look up strings, the translation files, plural forms and every translation | | A translation management system ([Crowdin](/kb/general-translation-vs-crowdin), [Lokalise](/kb/general-translation-vs-lokalise)) | A web editor where translators work with screenshots, a glossary and translation memory, synced with your repository | The i18n library and key files in the app, the sync set-up, and waiting for translators before each release | | General Translation (`gt-react-native` and the `gt` CLI) | [``](/docs/react/reference/components/t) translates `` in place with no keys, a Babel plugin adds the `Intl` polyfills, and [`npx gt translate`](/docs/cli/reference/commands/translate) writes one file per language with your Glossary and Custom Prompts applied | The package is experimental, and Expo apps need a development build because Expo Go cannot load the package's native module | Use an i18n library on its own, with hand-written translations, when the app has a few screens and one or two target languages, or when your team needs to keep testing in Expo Go; pair it with `expo-localization` or `react-native-localize` to choose the starting language. Use a translation management system when a localisation team translates each release by hand. Use General Translation when the copy changes with every release and each language has to keep pace. If you already use `i18next`, the `gt` CLI can translate its JSON files. ## Translate a React Native app with General Translation General Translation's `gt-react-native` package is experimental and works with Expo and the bare React Native CLI. 1. Install `gt-react-native` and the `gt` CLI, and list your languages in `gt.config.json`. 2. Add the package's Babel plugin, which injects the `Intl` polyfills into your entry file. 3. Call [`initializeGT`](/docs/react/reference/config#initialize) once with a [`loadTranslations`](/docs/react/reference/functions/load-translations) function, and wrap the app in [``](/docs/react/reference/components/gt-provider), which detects the locale from the device. 4. Wrap text in [``](/docs/react/reference/components/t), with no keys: ```tsx import { T } from 'gt-react-native'; Welcome back Your order is on its way. ; ``` 5. Sign in with [`npx gt login`](/docs/cli/reference/commands/login) and set your project ID. 6. Run [`npx gt translate`](/docs/cli/reference/commands/translate) to write one translation file per language, and add the command to your build script so that every release ships with up-to-date translations. Assign a single Context Group (your Glossary and Custom Prompts) to both your mobile and web projects to keep terminology and tone consistent across them. The [React Native Quickstart](/docs/react/react-native-quickstart) has the full steps. ## Related questions - [How do I translate a React app?](https://generaltranslation.com/en-GB/kb/translate-react-app.mdx): Translating a React app means internationalising its components so they render in the user's language, then translating every string into each language you support. General Translation's gt-react translates JSX in place in the `` component, and npx gt translate writes one file per language. - [How do I add i18n to a Next.js App Router app?](https://generaltranslation.com/en-GB/kb/add-i18n-to-nextjs.mdx): Start with gt init to configure General Translation in a supported App Router project, then mark source content, generate translations and verify language switching. gt-next keeps copy in JSX with translation context; the CLI, Dashboard editor and Locadex handle generation, review and ongoing updates. This guide also shows the explicit local-file set-up. - [Can I do i18n without translation files?](https://generaltranslation.com/en-GB/kb/i18n-without-translation-files.mdx): Yes. General Translation's gt-react and gt-next libraries do React and Next.js i18n with no translation keys and no JSON file per language to maintain. Copy stays inline in JSX inside the `` component, and the gt translate command generates each language's translations in your build, with context from your code. Locadex can keep them up to date through pull requests. - [How do I handle plurals in React?](https://generaltranslation.com/en-GB/kb/how-to-handle-plurals-in-react.mdx): Handle plurals in React by giving each language one sentence per plural form and picking it with that language's plural rules, since English has 2 forms, Russian has 4 and Arabic has 6. General Translation's `` component in gt-react and gt-next takes your source forms, and General Translation generates the forms each target language needs. ## Previous and next questions - Previous question: [How do I translate a React app?](https://generaltranslation.com/en-GB/kb/translate-react-app.mdx) - Next question: [How do I translate a Vue app?](https://generaltranslation.com/en-GB/kb/translate-vue-app.mdx) ## Sitemap See the [Knowledge Base sitemap](https://generaltranslation.com/en-GB/kb/sitemap.md) for every article.