A guide to creating a multi-language Quarto blog using the babelquarto R package.

This document provides a step-by-step guide to creating a multi-language blog using Quarto and the babelquarto R package. It covers the entire process, from installing and loading the necessary packages to setting up the main and additional languages. The guide also explains how to modify the _quarto.yml file for language-specific configurations, create new language versions of your .qmd files, and render the final website. It also suggests using LLMs for translation to streamline the content creation process.

1 install package

Code

pak::pak("ropensci-review-tools/babelquarto")

2 load package

Code

library(babelquarto)
library(fs)

3 set main language

Code

website_dir=getwd()

Code

register_main_language(
  main_language = "en",
  project_path = website_dir
)

4 add new language

Code

register_further_languages(c("cn"), website_dir)

5 change _quarto.yml if needed

Code

babelquarto:
  languagecodes:
  - name: cn
    text: "中文"
  - name: en
    text: "EN"
  mainlanguage: 'en'
  languages: ['cn']
title-cn: title in cn
description-cn: description in cn
author-cn: author in cn
lang: en

6 add new language qmd

file name example:for example “index.cn.qmd”

using LLM to create new language qmd file

“translate all qmd to chinese and write to new qmd file.file name example index.cn.qmd ellmer.cn.qmd and so on” in gemini

7 render all document

7.1 add site url to system environment before render

Code

Sys.setenv(BABELQUARTO_CI_URL="https://jcfly3000.github.io/into_AI/")

Code

Sys.getenv("BABELQUARTO_CI_URL")

7.2 we use babelquarto::render_website().

we need to render the .qmd files to HTML. If you are used to using Quarto, you may expect to do this with quarto render or quarto preview, but those do not work with babelquarto.

Code

babelquarto::render_website()

8 view

Now we’d like to view the rendered website in a browser. Once again, quarto preview cannot be used here. Instead, use servr::httw().

Code

servr::httw(path(website_dir, "docs"))

9 Reference

https://github.com/joelnitta/example-babelquarto

https://joelnitta.com/posts/2024-12-06_babelquarto/

https://docs.ropensci.org/babelquarto/

--- title: "多语言 quarto blog " subtitle: "babelquarto" author: "Tony D" date: "2025-07-03" categories: [quarto] execute: warning: false error: false eval: false format: html: toc: true code-fold: show code-tools: true number-sections: true code-block-bg: true code-block-border-left: "#31BAE9" --- A guide to creating a multi-language Quarto blog using the `babelquarto` R package. This document provides a step-by-step guide to creating a multi-language blog using Quarto and the `babelquarto` R package. It covers the entire process, from installing and loading the necessary packages to setting up the main and additional languages. The guide also explains how to modify the `_quarto.yml` file for language-specific configurations, create new language versions of your `.qmd` files, and render the final website. It also suggests using LLMs for translation to streamline the content creation process. ![](images/clipboard-2709382732.png){width="600"} # install package ```{r} pak::pak("ropensci-review-tools/babelquarto") ``` # load package ```{r} library(babelquarto) library(fs) ``` # set main language ```{r} website_dir=getwd() ``` ```{r} register_main_language( main_language = "en", project_path = website_dir ) ``` # add new language ```{r} register_further_languages(c("cn"), website_dir) ``` # change _quarto.yml if needed ```{r} babelquarto: languagecodes: - name: cn text: "中文" - name: en text: "EN" mainlanguage: 'en' languages: ['cn'] title-cn: title in cn description-cn: description in cn author-cn: author in cn lang: en ``` # add new language qmd file name example:for example "index.cn.qmd" using LLM to create new language qmd file "translate all qmd to chinese and write to new qmd file.file name example index.cn.qmd ellmer.cn.qmd and so on" in gemini # render all document ## add site url to system environment before render ```{r} Sys.setenv(BABELQUARTO_CI_URL="https://jcfly3000.github.io/into_AI/") ``` ```{r} Sys.getenv("BABELQUARTO_CI_URL") ``` ## we use babelquarto::render_website(). we need to render the .qmd files to HTML. If you are used to using Quarto, you may expect to do this with quarto render or quarto preview, but those do not work with babelquarto. ```{r} babelquarto::render_website() ``` # view Now we’d like to view the rendered website in a browser. Once again, quarto preview cannot be used here. Instead, use servr::httw(). ```{r} servr::httw(path(website_dir, "docs")) ``` # Reference https://github.com/joelnitta/example-babelquarto https://joelnitta.com/posts/2024-12-06_babelquarto/ https://docs.ropensci.org/babelquarto/