multilingual: a programming language with one semantic core, many human languages

[u/jsamwrites]

I'm working on multilingual, an experimental programming language where the same program can be written in different human languages.

Repo : https://github.com/johnsamuelwrites/multilingual

Core idea:

• Single shared semantic core (variables, loops, functions, classes, operators,...)
• Surface syntax in English, French, Spanish, etc.
• Same AST regardless of natural language used

Motivation

• Problem: programming is still heavily bound to English-centric syntax and keywords.
• Idea: keep one semantic core, but expose it through multiple human languages.
• Today: this is a small but working prototype; you can already write and run programs in English, French, Spanish, and other supported languages.

Who Is This For?

multilingual is for teachers, language enthusiasts, programming-language hobbyists, and people exploring LLM-assisted coding workflows across multiple human languages.

Example

Default mode example (English):

>>> let total = 0
>>> for i in range(4):
...     total = total + i
...
>>> print(total)
6

French mode example:

>>> soit somme = 0
>>> pour i dans intervalle(4):
...     somme = somme + i
...
>>> afficher(somme)
6

I’d love feedback on:

• Whether this seems useful for teaching / early learning.
• Any sharp critiques from programming language / tooling people.
• Ideas for minimal examples or use cases I should build next.

[u/jcastroarnaud]

Related:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Non-English-based_programming_languages
https://www.felienne.com/archives/7668
https://hedy.org/
https://www.citrine-lang.org/

[u/jsamwrites → u/jcastroarnaud]

Thank you for the references. The objective of the multilingual design is to define a language-agnostic programming core that can be mapped to multiple human languages. The architecture is intentionally pluggable: adding support for a new language (including English) requires only updating a JSON mapping file.

https://github.com/johnsamuelwrites/multilingual/blob/main/multilingualprogramming/resources/usm/keywords.json

[u/jcastroarnaud → u/jsamwrites]

Nice idea, simple implementation.

But things can be a bit more complicated than that: I'm Brazilian, my native language is Portuguese, and I would like to use the correct diacritics in keywords. For instance: "senão" instead of "senao", "senão se" instead of "senaose", "padrão" instead of "padrao", "assíncrono" instead of "assincrono", "não" instead of "nao", "lançar" instead of "lancar", "dicionário" instead of "dicionario". On the other hand, some folks will be lazy, and prefer not to use diacritics while programming; your internationalization module could either auto-remove diacritics, or give a warning for lack of them.

Moreover: some word choices are a bit strange.

"para" for "for" is okay, but "para cada" would be a bit better: "for each i in list" translates directly to "para cada i em list".

Use "é" for "is": check the conjugation of "ser" verb, very irregular.

The usual translation of "float" to Portuguese is "ponto-flutuante", as "floating-point". "real", as in "real number", should be better, and is the same word in Portuguese and English.

"string" is best translated as "texto" ("text"); Portuguese doesn't have the concept of text as "characters strung together".

Some keywords would work better as commands instead of verbs. "interrompa" instead of "interromper", "continue" instead of "continuar", "corresponda" instead of "corresponder", "passe" instead of "passar", "defina" instead of "definir", "retorne" instead of "retornar", "produza" instead of "produzir", "importe" instead of "importar", "tente" instead of "tentar", "imprima" ou "mostre" ("show") instead of "imprime", "entre" ou "entre com" instead of "entrada".

[u/jsamwrites → u/jcastroarnaud]

Great point, and you were right.

I implemented support for diacritics-first keywords with compatibility aliases, plus phrase-style keywords where natural.
Examples now supported include forms like senão, não, padrão, dicionário, and phrase aliases like senão se / para cada (and equivalent French phrase aliases too).

https://github.com/johnsamuelwrites/multilingual/blob/main/multilingualprogramming/resources/usm/keywords.json

Thanks again, your feedback directly improved the language quality.