I wrote my phrase in another language: does it still work?

How the language lists work

There is an official 2048-word list for each supported language: English, Spanish, French, Italian, Portuguese, Czech, Japanese, Korean and Chinese. A phrase generated in Spanish is exactly as valid as an English one, but it does not translate: they are different secrets. Translating your words into English does not take you to your wallet, it takes you to a different one.

What to do if your wallet doesn’t offer your language

1. First check whether the app has a phrase-language option when restoring. Several do, and it is hidden.
2. If it doesn’t, use another wallet that does support multi-language lists to restore, and move the funds from there.
3. If you are not sure which language your phrase is in, look at it: if the words carry accents or the letter ñ, or are plainly Spanish, you have your answer.

When it is a genuine recovery case

If your phrase is in Spanish and you are also missing a word, the work is the same as in English and so is the outlook: the phrase’s internal check works identically in every language. What changes is the list the words are matched against, and that is a detail of method, not an obstacle.

If the problem is that a word doesn’t appear on any list, the possible explanations are in my phrase has a word that isn’t on the list.

Keep reading

• My phrase has a word that isn’t on the list: what that means
• What a recovery phrase actually is (and what it isn’t)
• I have the phrase but the wallet shows empty: the 5 most common causes
• I used ñ or accents in my password: how that affects recovery