libretro / libretro/RetroArch

[Feature Request] Improve the display of Thai language

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#19,024 3 comments 4 reactions 0 assignees View on GitHub

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feature request
Dominant language
C
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Description

​I am a contributor to the Thai translation project for RetroArch on Crowdin. Currently, the Thai translation is progressing well, but users on Linux-based handheld devices (specifically aarch64 systems like muOS) are facing issues where Thai text cannot be displayed correctly.
​The main issues are:
​Missing Translation Files: Thai (.mo) files are not yet included in the official Linux aarch64 builds.
​Font Incompatibility: The default system fonts do not support Thai Glyphs, resulting in empty boxes (tofu) or broken characters.
​Thai Glyph Shaping: Since RetroArch's internal renderer has limited support for complex text layouts, Thai vowels and tone marks often overlap with consonants (vowel/tone crashing).
​Requests:
​Please include the Thai translation assets in the official Linux builds.
​I recommend including a Thai-compatible Open Source font, such as Sarabun, which is available via Google Fonts: https://fonts.google.com/specimen/Sarabun
​If possible, please consider implementing or improving Thai Glyph Shaping to handle vowel and tone mark positioning (avoiding overlapping characters).
​Including these assets and improving Thai support will greatly benefit the growing Thai retro gaming community. Thank you for your hard work and for maintaining this amazing project!

Contributor guide

Open the contributing guide

First steps

  1. Read the whole issue, then the project's contributing guide.
  2. Comment on the issue to say you are picking it up — it saves two people doing the same work.
  3. Fork the repository and make your change on a branch.
  4. Open a pull request that references the issue number.

Research direction

Start by tracing how translation assets enter the official Linux aarch64 builds and how RetroArch's internal renderer selects fonts and lays out Thai text. Review the build assets and renderer paths, then verify that Thai .mo files are included, Thai glyphs render without tofu, and vowels and tone marks are positioned correctly.

Written by the indexing model from the issue text.

Assessment

Tech stack
c, linux
Domain
frontend, localization
Issue type
Feature
Difficulty
5/5
Estimated time
Over a week
Activity status
Quiet
Clarity
Mostly clear
Newbie friendliness
35/100

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