Languages
The 7 languages of Roots Earth
Roots Earth has audio stories in 7 languages: English, German, Spanish, Italian, French, Dutch and Albanian. English and German cover every one of the 130 cities and all 5,665 places; Spanish, Italian, French, Dutch and Albanian cover 126 cities and 5,487 places. No account is needed to listen in any of them.
The counts come from the Roots Earth catalogue, read on 15 September 2026.
Published 16 September 2026. Markdown: languages.md
Which 7 languages does Roots Earth have?
The seven in the table, each with its language code and the number of cities it covers.
| Language | Code | Cities with audio stories | Places with audio stories |
|---|---|---|---|
| English | en | 130 | 5,665 |
| German | de | 130 | 5,665 |
| Spanish | es | 126 | 5,487 |
| Italian | it | 126 | 5,487 |
| French | fr | 126 | 5,487 |
| Dutch | nl | 126 | 5,487 |
| Albanian | sq | 126 | 5,487 |
Is every city in every language?
No. English and German are in all 130 cities; Spanish, Italian, French, Dutch and Albanian are in 126 of them.
The four cities with English and German only are Marseille with 58 places, Cannes with 34 places, Nice with 56 places and Monaco with 30 places.
Can I listen in Albanian?
In 126 of the 130 cities, yes. The written description that goes with a place is in Albanian in 12 cities, the 10 in Albania plus Munich and Ismaning; in the other cities the audio story is Albanian while the written description is shown in English.
Which language codes does Roots Earth use?
The standard BCP 47 codes that browsers and apps use: en for English, de for German, es for Spanish, it for Italian, fr for French, nl for Dutch and sq for Albanian. Albanian is sq.
In full
The full coverage table, written text and audio side by side, the three places where a language is narrower than its city count suggests, and how the counting was done.
How complete is each language, in writing and in audio?
A city counts for a language when every one of its places has that language. The written description is the text that goes with a place; the audio story is the recording.
| Language | Code | Cities with audio stories | Places with audio stories | Cities with the written description | Places with the written description |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| English | en | 130 | 5,665 | 130 | 5,665 |
| German | de | 130 | 5,665 | 130 | 5,665 |
| Spanish | es | 126 | 5,487 | 125 | 5,483 |
| Italian | it | 126 | 5,487 | 126 | 5,487 |
| French | fr | 126 | 5,487 | 126 | 5,487 |
| Dutch | nl | 126 | 5,487 | 126 | 5,487 |
| Albanian | sq | 126 | 5,487 | 12 | 625 |
Where is a language narrower than its city count suggests?
- Marseille, Cannes, Nice and Monaco have audio stories in English and German only, and no Spanish, Italian, French, Dutch or Albanian at all.
- Chiang Rai has Spanish audio stories for all 40 of its places and the written Spanish description for 36 of them, which is why Spanish counts 126 cities for audio and 125 for writing.
- Albanian has the audio story in 126 cities and the written description in 12: 625 of the 5,665 places carry Albanian text, and the rest show the English text next to an Albanian recording.
How was this counted?
One place at a time, from the Roots Earth catalogue itself, on 12 September 2026 and again on 15 September 2026 with the same result. A place counts for a language when the catalogue holds that language's text for it, and it counts for audio when both its short introduction and its deeper story exist in that language.
Which city has which language is listed city by city on the cities page.
Roots Earth in short
Roots Earth has audio stories about 5,665 places in 130 cities, 25 countries and 6 regions, written by local people.
- No account
- Download a city's audio, then it plays without a connection
- Audio stories in English and German in every city, and in Spanish, Italian, French, Dutch and Albanian in 126 of the 130 cities
Roots Earth for Android is available on Google Play: https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.rootsearth.app.