Overview

Introduction

The General Translation React SDK is an open-source internationalization (i18n) library for React.

It offers a set of tools to help you internationalize your React application in a easy and maintainable way, with feature parity to other popular i18n libraries.

The React SDK can be used without the General Translation platform, and will act very similarly to other i18n libraries.

However, it also integrates with our platform, offering additional features such as:

• Translation Hot Reloading in Development
• Automatic AI translations
• Syncing translations with the General Translation platform
• Native integration with our translation CDN

Concepts

There are 4 main concepts to understand about the SDK.

The <GTProvider> component

import { GTProvider } from 'gt-react';

The <GTProvider> component is the main component that you need to add to your application.

It is used to provide the rest of your application with context.

This context includes the current language and the relevant translations for that language.

Important Considerations

• The provider should wrap your entire application.
• Ideally, it should be placed as high in the tree as possible, such as in your root component.

See the GTProvider page for more information.

The <T> component

The <T> component is the recommended way to translate content in your application.

It is a React component that can be used to wrap any JSX element, and will automatically render the content of the element into a supported language.

Examples

<T>
  <div>Hello, world!</div>
</T>

<T>
  <div>
    <h1> Here is an image </h1>
    <img src="https://example.com/image.png" alt="Example" />
  </div>
</T>

<T>
  Formatting can be done easily with the `<T>` component.
  <Num>{1000}</Num>
  <DateTime>{new Date()}</DateTime>
  <Currency>{1000}</Currency>
</T>

See the translating JSX guide to learn about the different ways to use the <T> component.

See the T API Reference for the API of the <T> component.

The useGT hook

The useGT hook is a React hook that can be used similarly to the <T> component, with some trade-offs.

The hook returns a function that can be used to translate strings.

const translate = useGT();

translate('Hello, world!');

Compared to the <T> component, the useGT hook allows for more flexibility in your codebase.

For example, if you have a complex data structure with nested strings, a <T> component would be more difficult to use.

const t = useGT();
const data = {
  title: t('Hello, world!'),
  description: t('This is a description'),
};

See the strings guide to learn more about the useGT hook.

See the useGT API Reference for more information.

The useDict hook

The useDict hook is a React hook that returns a function that can be used to retrieve translations for a given key.

const dictionary = {
  hello: {
    world: 'Hello, world!',
  },
};

const translate = useDict();
translate('hello.world');

This behavior is similar to other translation libraries, such as react-i18next and next-intl.

See the dictionaries guide to learn more about the useDict hook.

See the useDict API Reference for more information.

Next Steps

• Learn about how to setup your React project with the SDK: Project Quickstart
• Learn about how to translate strings with the useGT hook: Translating Strings
• Learn about how to translate JSX content with the <T> component: Translating JSX