Overview
This article explains the “Hidden Languages” setting, which lets an institution control which languages appear as selectable options throughout the system. It is intended for institution administrators who manage general system configuration, not for developers.
Path: Main Settings > General Settings > Localization Settings > Locales & Languages > Hidden Languages
What This Setting Does
The system ships with a very large master list of languages and regional language variants (for example, several regional variants of English, Arabic, Spanish, German, and so on, over 150 in total). Most institutions only ever need a handful of these.
The “Hidden Languages” setting lets an administrator pick, from that full master list, which languages should be hidden. Once a language is added to this list, it is removed from every language-selection list in the system for everyone at the institution; it simply no longer appears as an option.
If the setting is left empty (no language selected), no languages are hidden, and the complete master list of languages remains available everywhere in the system. This is the default, out-of-the-box behavior.
Where It Is Used
The list of hidden languages is applied consistently everywhere in the system where a language needs to be chosen. In practice, this covers:
- Interface language switcher: The language options offered to every user (staff, _Student_ (Learner), _Teacher_ (Educator), _Parent_/Relative (Guardian)) on the login screen and in the language switcher inside the portal. A hidden language cannot be selected as the display language of the interface.
- Default Language setting: The list of choices offered when an administrator configures the institution’s default system language (see “Other Related Settings” below) only shows languages that are not hidden.
- Preferred language on people’s profile: The “Preferred Language” option available on _Student_, _Teacher_, and _Parent_/Relative (Guardian) profile records (used to decide which language certain communications and portal content are shown in for that person) excludes hidden languages from its list of choices.
- Translation/custom terminology tool: When an administrator manages the institution’s custom terminology or translations, the list of languages that can be worked on excludes any hidden language.
- Admission documents and forms: When configuring the language(s) in which application document names, categories, and dynamic admission documents/forms are presented to applicants, hidden languages are excluded from the list of languages to choose from.
This setting takes effect immediately after it is saved. It affects every user of the institution (it is not specific to one user, one role, or one academic term). The languages disappear from selection lists institution-wide as soon as the change is saved.
Business Logic / Behavior
The following behavior can be confirmed from how the setting works:
- The setting acts purely as a filter on selection lists. Hiding a language removes it as a future choice; it does not delete or translate any content that was already created in that language, and it does not delete any person’s profile data.
- If no languages are selected in this setting, every language in the system’s master list remains available everywhere listed above.
- The list is shared across all the areas listed in “Where It Is Used” – there is a single hidden-languages list for the whole institution, not separate lists per area, per role, or per academic term.
- Because the same list also filters the “Default Language” setting’s own choices, an administrator should avoid hiding a language that is currently configured as the institution’s Default Language, or that is already relied on as someone’s Preferred Language – existing selections are not automatically changed, but the language will no longer be offered if that value ever needs to be re-selected or changed to something else and back.
- There is no functional difference in how this setting behaves between a K-12 institution and a Higher Education institution. It controls language visibility only, independent of the type of institution or its academic structure.
Example(s)
Example 1: Simplifying the language list
“Green Valley Academy” only communicates with its community in English and French. By default, its portal offers a very long list of languages and regional variants, most of which are irrelevant to the school (for example, several regional variants of Arabic, Spanish, or English that nobody at the school uses).
The system administrator opens the Hidden Languages setting and adds every language except English (United Kingdom) and French (France) to the hidden list, then saves. From that point on, staff, students, and parents logging into the portal, and the administrator configuring the Default Language setting or a person’s Preferred Language, only see “English (United Kingdom)” and “French (France)” as options.
Example 2: Removing a single unused option
“Riverside International College” mainly operates in English but occasionally needs Spanish for a partner program. It notices that “Bulgarian (Bulgaria)” appears in its interface language switcher even though no staff, student, or parent at the college needs it.
The administrator adds “Bulgarian (Bulgaria)” to the Hidden Languages list and saves. Every other language remains available; only Bulgarian disappears from the switcher and from all other language lists across the system.
When to use
When to Enable (select one or more languages to hide):
- Your institution only communicates in a small, known set of languages and you want to prevent staff, students, or parents from accidentally selecting an interface language, preferred language, or document language that nobody at the institution actually understands or supports.
- You want to keep the language-selection lists short and relevant to your community, instead of showing every regional variant available in the system.
- You want to avoid custom terminology/translations being created by mistake in a language your institution does not use or support.
When to Disable (leave the setting empty, with no languages selected):
- Your institution serves a broad, international community and you want to give every user the maximum freedom to choose their own preferred interface language.
- You are still in the initial setup phase and are not yet sure which languages will be needed, and prefer to leave every option open for now.
- You want the Default Language setting and all other language pickers in the system to keep showing the complete master list of languages.
Notes
Pre-requisites
There are no other settings that must be configured before using this setting – it can be used on its own at any time. However, before hiding a language, it is good practice to first check the current value of the Default Language setting and any Preferred Language values already selected on staff, _Student_, or _Parent_/Relative (Guardian) records, to avoid hiding a language that is still actively relied on.
Other related settings
“Default Language”/Default_Language (Main Settings > General Settings > Localization Settings > Locales & Languages > Default Language) – sets the language shown to users by default when they log in; this setting filters its own list of selectable languages, so a language must not be hidden here in order to be chosen as the Default Language.
Assumptions
The exhaustive list of every screen affected by this setting is based on how the setting is wired into the system’s language-selection logic; if a screen not listed above also offers a language choice, the same hide/show behavior described here should apply to it as well, following the same general rule (hidden languages are removed from selection everywhere).
