How to add a language in VICIdial

Adding a Language in VICIdial is quick once you know what each field does. A Language is a set of replacement phrases for the admin and agent screens, so creating one is really just defining its identity and then telling VICIdial which phrases to load. Done right, your Agent sees the new wording the next time they log in.

Create the Language entry

From the Languages list, use the link at the top of the page to add a new one. You will fill in a small set of fields:

1. Language ID - the unique ID the system uses to refer to the language. It must contain no spaces or special characters other than underscores or dashes.
2. Language Description - a plain-English description of the entry so you can recognize it later.
3. Language Code - the web browser code for the native language, such as en-us for US English. This one is optional.
4. Admin User Group - the administrative User group associated with this entry.
5. Active - must be set to Y before agents and users can use the language. The default is N.

Populate the phrases

An empty Language overrides nothing, so the next step is loading phrases. The Populate Language option fills the new Language with phrases gathered while parsing the web pages. Set it to AGENT for only agent-screen phrases, ADMIN for only administration-screen phrases, or ALL for everything. The default is to leave it empty, which is why a brand-new Language shows no changes until you populate it. Each phrase keys on the hard-coded English text, so once populated you simply edit the translations you care about and leave the rest. This sits comfortably next to the rest of your screen tuning in the agent screen configuration guide.

flowchart TD
  A[Open Languages add link] --> B[Set Language ID and Description]
  B --> C[Set Active to Y]
  C --> D{Populate Language}
  D -->|AGENT| E[Load agent phrases]
  D -->|ADMIN| F[Load admin phrases]
  D -->|ALL| G[Load all phrases]
  E --> H[Edit translations then assign]
  F --> H
  G --> H

The flow above is the whole job: identify the Language, activate it, populate the right scope, then edit and assign. Skipping the populate step is the most common reason a new Language looks broken.

Bulk import and export

If you already have translations prepared, you do not have to type them in one by one. The Language screen accepts bulk Import Data as one phrase per line, English text then a pipe then the translated text. An Import Action setting decides what happens to existing entries: Only Add Missing Phrases leaves current translations alone and just fills gaps, Only Update Existing Phrases refreshes matches without adding anything new, and Add and Update Phrases does both. The default is Only Add Missing Phrases, which is the safe choice when you are layering onto a partly built Language. You can also export in the other direction, choosing to pull only the phrases that still need translating, only the ones already translated, or every phrase for the Language, so it is easy to hand a translator a clean to-do list.

Common gotcha

Two things trip people up. First, Active defaults to N, so your work stays invisible until you switch it to Y. That same default-off pattern shows up across VICIdial, including the VICIdial script Active flag, so it is worth building the habit of checking it last. Second, a populated Language can be large, and you do not have to translate all of it at once. Pick the phrases that matter most to your agents and leave the rest in English; the fallback handles the gaps for you. It is also smart to keep your Language ID short and descriptive, since it is the handle you will use whenever you assign or troubleshoot the Language later. Either way, the change applies per Agent session, so agents pick it up at their next login rather than mid-call.

That is all it takes to stand up a new Language: name it, activate it, populate the right scope, and edit the phrases you care about. If you would rather run VICIdial without managing the server yourself, see VICIfast pricing.