Language Settings

Benecaster can deliver emails and content in multiple languages. The Language settings screen controls which locales are active and which one is the primary fallback.

Go to Settings → Language to configure these options.

This setting is site-wide, and it is not the same as your show’s language. Two separate things are easy to confuse:

• Settings → Language — the locales Benecaster uses to talk to your subscribers: emails and subscriber-facing content. One set of locales, one fallback, shared by every show on the site.
• Your show’s language — the language declared in that show’s RSS feed, set per show in Benecaster → Shows → [Your Show]. Podcast directories read this to categorise and list your podcast.

On a multi-show install running podcasts in different languages, the feeds are correctly declared per show — but subscriber emails all follow the site-wide setting. A Spanish-language show’s subscribers would receive the site’s fallback locale unless it happens to match. Per-show subscriber locale is on the roadmap; there is no way to configure it today.

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Supported Locales

The supported locales list determines which languages Benecaster can use when communicating with subscribers. At least one locale must be selected at all times.

Benecaster currently ships with English (US) only. It is the one locale in the list out of the box, and it is the primary locale until another is added.

The list is not a fixed menu — it is built from the translation files present on your site. Benecaster looks for compiled translations and offers each one it finds, so a locale appears in Settings → Language as soon as a translation for it exists. Two ways to get there:

• Translate Benecaster. A translation template ships with the plugin for translators to work from. Once a compiled translation file for your language is in place, that locale appears in the list on its own. See Translating Benecaster.
• Supply locales from your own plugin or theme. Developers can add entries directly with the benecaster_available_locales filter, which is the route to take when the translations live somewhere Benecaster does not look.

Adding a locale to the list is not the same as translating the emails your subscribers receive. The two are separate: the list controls which locales Benecaster will use, while your email templates are content you write per locale. Adding a language without matching templates means subscribers on that locale fall back to your primary one — Benecaster raises a notice when it spots that gap. See After Adding a New Locale below.

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Primary Locale

The primary locale is your podcast’s main language. It is used as the fallback when a subscriber’s locale is not set or is not in your supported list.

To change the primary locale, first assign primary status to a different locale — the primary locale’s own checkbox is disabled until another locale is promoted. This prevents accidentally removing the primary without a replacement.

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How Subscriber Locale Works

Each subscriber’s locale is recorded when their access token is generated, based on their WordPress user account’s language setting. Benecaster uses this stored locale to select the right email templates and content when communicating with that subscriber.

If a subscriber’s locale is not in your supported list, Benecaster falls back to the primary locale automatically.

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After Adding a New Locale

When you add a language that your primary locale already has customized email templates for, Benecaster checks whether matching templates exist for the new locale. If they don’t, a notice appears in Admin Notifications prompting you to create them. The notice clears automatically once the template gap is resolved.

See Translating Benecaster for guidance on creating locale-specific email templates.