React i18n with i18next: Expert Tutorial with Code Examples • 19 min read
React i18n isn’t just a nice-to-have anymore; it’s something users expect. According to Global Multilingual CX Survey, 68% of people would switch to a brand that speaks their language. This means that about two out of three users might leave your app or website just because it doesn’t feel familiar.
Yet internationalization can feel messy. What library should you choose? What is the best way to structure JSON files? What about performance, plurals, RTL text, routing, and lazy loading?
This guide will show you how to set up i18next for React i18n from start to finish. Then, it shows how to scale your workflow using Crowdin, including GitHub/GitLab sync, QA checks, and Over-The-Air (OTA) updates, so you don’t rebuild for every copy change.
What You Will Learn:
- Foundations: What i18n is in React, and how it prepares your code for later localization.
- Library Choice: i18next vs. React-Intl - when to use which.
- Hands-On: Install, configure, and ship i18next + react-i18nex with clean JSON.
- Advanced: Interpolation, plurals, <Trans>, language detection, lazy loading, router.
- Scale Up: Replace manual file passing with a TMS, automate with Crowdin (repo sync, translate JSON files, QA, OTA, and use AI for translation)