Before Firefox ever shows up on your screen in your language, from the menus to the messages to the welcome page, it passes through the hands of passionate volunteers around the world.
Our volunteers are teachers, students, coders, creatives, and more. This is a global network — some live in big cities, others in small towns. But they all have one thing in common: they help make the internet feel local, personal, and human.
“Helping people use the web in their own language is about inclusion, respect, and giving communities the tools to shape their own digital experience,” said Francesco Lodolo (aka flod), Mozilla’s Localization Manager, who has been contributing to Mozilla since 2004 and is based in Berlin. “It’s one of the most tangible ways we can make the internet truly global and mirror the diversity of the real world.”
It’s called localization (and it’s a big part of what makes Firefox feel like home, wherever you are).
It’s not just translation: it’s knowing whether to say ‘howdy’ or ‘hallo’
Localization (or l10n as we call it) is all about making Firefox fit your local vibe.
That means:
- Using the right words and phrases for your country or culture (¡Hola vs. ¡Qué onda!)
- Formatting information like dates, currencies, and addresses so they make sense where you live
- Making sure that Firefox works beautifully in right-to-left languages, or scripts that don’t use the Latin alphabet
- Adapting icons, images, and layouts to feel familiar and culturally respectful
Even something as simple as a baseball metaphor can need rethinking. As Delphine Lebédel, our Mobile Localization Program Manager, put it: “Expressions rooted in baseball can be tricky to localize into French. Many of those metaphors — like ‘step up to the plate’ or ‘hit it out of the park’ — don’t translate culturally. We often have to adapt or replace them with expressions that make sense locally.”
Firefox even supports different versions of the same language. Spanish in Mexico isn’t always the same as Spanish in Chile or Spain. Firefox knows that and adapts accordingly.
Basically, it’s about making Firefox feel like it belongs in your hands. And none of it would be possible without the incredible humans behind the scenes.
Speaking your language is a global effort
Mozilla works with volunteer contributors (people who translate Firefox and other Mozilla products using a tool we built called Pontoon). In 2024, more than 1,200 contributors have helped keep the internet multilingual and inclusive, with around 220 contributing each month.
Each language (or locale, to be more accurate) has its own team. Some contributors have been involved for years working on everything from Firefox and Firefox for Android to Mozilla accounts (just a few of the 30 projects supported in 2024). Together, they help ensure Firefox sounds just right for their communities, across 449 locales, from the world’s most widely spoken languages to the smallest Indigenous languages of Central America and Africa.
“The localization community is a passionate and hard-working group of individuals,” said Delphine, who lives in California but originally hails from France. “Many are driven by Mozilla’s mission, while others are motivated by the desire to preserve and revitalize endangered or underrepresented languages.”
For flod, who started localizing in 2004 and still manages the Italian Firefox community, the experience has grown more diverse and inclusive over time. “We’ve seen people with different backgrounds come in — from architects to teachers to students of computational linguistics,” he said. “We’ve worked hard to lower the entry barrier so everyone can contribute.”
A small Mozilla team helps coordinate things, answer questions, and keep the magic moving. But the power comes from the people.
From usernames to real-life meetups
Last month, we brought some of those incredible humans together for Mozilla’s first in-person localization meetup since the pandemic.
Fourteen contributors across 11 languages gathered at our Berlin office. For some, it was their first time meeting collaborators they’ve been chatting with online for years. For others, it was a joyful reunion of friends, translators, and dreamers.
“Meeting contributors in person is incredibly meaningful,” said Delphine. “You finally connect face-to-face with the people who generously volunteer their time — sometimes for years — and it’s a moment to sync more deeply, recognize their work, and celebrate our shared mission together.”
There were lightning talks about endangered languages. Spontaneous brainstorms. Late-night laughter. Way too much coffee. And one big, shared feeling:
“This gave me so much fresh energy and motivation to keep going.”

Looking ahead with the Firefox localization community
Firefox doesn’t just happen to be in your language. People made it that way — with love.
Whether you speak English, Tamil, or Sicilian, our localization community helps make Firefox feel welcoming, intuitive, and built for you.
“Localization matters because it makes products feel like they belong to the people using them,” said flod. “It’s not just about translating words, it’s about making sure experiences make sense across cultures and contexts.”
Sometimes, it even means making the right call before the source text does. “We translated ‘master password’ as ‘primary password’ in Italian long before English did,” flod noted. “It’s nice when the source catches up to something the localization community already figured out.”
And the feedback — when it comes — can be powerful. “One of the most meaningful things I’ve heard is from community members who thank us for helping keep their language alive,” said Delphine. “Sometimes they even mention our products being used in schools.”
If you love language, culture, or community (or just want to peek behind the curtain of Firefox), come join us.
Because behind every “Settings” menu or welcome message is someone who made it make sense for you.

Join our global community of volunteer localizers
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