How to Apply Glossaries to Language Variants

DeepL supports regional language variants such as PT-BR vs PT-PT, or FR-CA vs FR-FR. When applying glossaries, customizations must be created using the root language code, but can be applied to any variant of that language. This guide shows you:

How to create glossaries using root language codes (e.g. PT, FR)
How to pass a glossary when translating into a variant target (e.g. pt-BR, fr-CA)
A practical example of using variant-specific glossaries to enforce locale-appropriate terminology

Creating a glossary for a language

DeepL distinguishes between root language codes (e.g. pt) and language variant codes (e.g. pt-BR). Glossaries must be created with the root code. Attempting to create one with a variant code will fail.

Use this	Not this
`zh`	`zh-Hant`, `zh-Hans`
`pt`	`pt-BR`, `pt-PT`
`fr`	`fr-CA`, `fr-CH`
`de`	`de-CH`
`it`	`it-CH`
`es`	`es-ES`, `es-419`

See supported languages for the full list.

This restriction only applies to glossaries. Other customizations like style rules support language variants.

The following example creates two glossaries to enforce different terms for “invoice” in Brazilian and European Portuguese. Both use the root language code PT:

Example: Create glossaries with root language codes

import deepl

translator = deepl.Translator("YOUR_AUTH_KEY")

glossary_br = translator.create_glossary(
    "PT-BR Invoice Glossary",
    source_lang="EN",
    target_lang="PT",        # root code — not PT-BR
    entries={"invoice": "nota fiscal"}
)

glossary_pt = translator.create_glossary(
    "PT-PT Invoice Glossary",
    source_lang="EN",
    target_lang="PT",        # root code — not PT-PT
    entries={"invoice": "fatura"}
)

Applying a glossary to a language variant

Once a glossary is created with a root language code, pass its ID in the /translate call with a variant target_lang:

Example: Apply glossaries to variant targets

result_br = translator.translate_text(
    "Your invoice is ready to view.",
    source_lang="EN",
    target_lang="PT-BR",
    glossary=glossary_br.glossary_id
)

result_pt = translator.translate_text(
    "Your invoice is ready to view.",
    source_lang="EN",
    target_lang="PT-PT",
    glossary=glossary_pt.glossary_id
)

print(result_br.text)  # Sua nota fiscal está pronta para ser visualizada.
print(result_pt.text)  # A sua fatura está pronta a ser visualizada.

CAT tools

Some CAT tools may prevent applying a glossary linked to a root code language when the target language is a variant. This is an incorrect limitation that does not reflect the DeepL API’s behavior. You’ll need to reach out to your CAT tool provider to request this restriction is removed.

Next steps

Apply glossaries in practice: See Glossaries in the real world for a full worked example
Translate between variants: Learn about the Write API and style rules in How to translate between language variants
Improve translation quality: See how the context parameter can further refine your translations

Glossaries

Style Rules

Spoken Terms

Translation Memories

How to Apply Glossaries to Language Variants

Creating a glossary for a language

Applying a glossary to a language variant

CAT tools

Next steps

​Creating a glossary for a language

​Applying a glossary to a language variant

​CAT tools

​Next steps

Creating a glossary for a language

Applying a glossary to a language variant

CAT tools

Next steps