On Zinn Hub, the language you read the site in and the language you're emailed, notified and messaged in are two separate settings — on purpose. This guide covers the second one: your communication language. It explains what it controls, the extra “message-only” languages you can be contacted in (including right-to-left languages), and exactly where to set it.
A quick note on our words: Zinners are sellers (freelancers), Zinnectors are buyers, and Zinns are the service listings Zinners offer.
What your communication language controls
Your communication language (also called your notification language) is the language you're contacted in. It controls:
- the language of your emails and in-app notifications (including alerts to your notification bell, and to Telegram or Slack if you connect them);
- the language that messages other people send you are translated into — so a buyer and a seller who don't share a language can still hold a full conversation, each reading in their own.
Your order and receipt emails arrive in this language too. It's separate from your display (browse) language, which controls how the site itself looks — so you can, for example, read the site in English but be messaged and emailed in Spanish. If you never choose a communication language, it simply follows your display language, so most people don't need to do anything.
Which languages you can be contacted in
You can set your communication language to any of Zinn Hub's 46 site languages, and on top of those there are 12 extra “message-only” languages supported specifically for communication. These 12 mean a great many more people can be messaged and notified in a language they truly speak, even if they browse the site in another.
The 12 message-only communication languages are:
- العربية (Arabic) — right-to-left
- اردو (Urdu) — right-to-left
- فارسی (Persian) — right-to-left
- עברית (Hebrew) — right-to-left
- پښتو (Pashto) — right-to-left
- Soomaali (Somali)
- Hausa
- Yorùbá (Yoruba)
- Қазақша (Kazakh)
- Тоҷикӣ (Tajik)
- ລາວ (Lao)
- Монгол (Mongolian)
These are available to everyone — there's no seller verification or role restriction.
Important: message-only languages are for communication, not browsing
The 12 message-only languages are not full site languages. There's no full-site version, no search and no Help Centre in them, and no localised web address for them. You'll only ever see them offered in the Notification language picker — never in the site language switcher. (If you want to browse the site in your language, that's the display-language setting, covered in “Languages and currency on Zinn Hub.”)
Right-to-left languages read correctly
Five of the message-only languages read right-to-left — Arabic, Urdu, Persian, Hebrew and Pashto. Zinn Hub renders these correctly right-to-left: your message text, email content and the option rows in the picker all flip to the right-to-left direction so the script displays naturally.
How to set the language you're emailed and messaged in
The control is titled “✉️ Notification language”, and it saves automatically the moment you choose — there's no separate Save button. Its on-screen description reads:
“Choose the language for your emails and notifications. We'll also translate messages you receive into this language. This is separate from your display language — you can read the site in one language and be messaged in another.”
The dropdown lists all 46 site languages, and then — under a “Message-only languages” group — any of the 12 message-only languages that are ready. Each option shows its native name, and right-to-left options display in the right-to-left direction. You'll find it in two places in your dashboard, whichever is handier:
- At the top of the Notifications section — the in-app route follows the pattern /dashboard/{role}/notifications/ (for example /dashboard/zinner/notifications/ for sellers).
- In your Account settings, inside the “🌐 Language & currency” card, just below the display-language and currency options.
You'll normally reach these from your dashboard sidebar (open your dashboard, then Notifications or Account) rather than by typing a web address.
A message-only language becomes selectable only once it's fully ready — that is, once all the notification, message and email wording has been prepared in it. Until then it stays hidden, so you never pick a language that isn't ready to serve you properly. Once it's been ready, it stays available for good, and a choice you've already made always shows correctly in your settings.
How translated messages appear to you
When someone messages you in a different language, it's translated into your communication language the moment it's sent. Every translated message carries a short, honest notice and a “Show original” toggle, so you can always see the exact words the other person typed:
“This was translated for you. Accuracy is high but not always perfect, so be sure to double-check anything unclear with the other party.”
Open the original and it's shown clearly under an “Original message:” heading. If a message was already in your language, there's nothing to translate — you just see it as-is, with no notice. Machine translation is high quality but not flawless, so for anything critical (a deadline, a spec, a price) it's worth confirming directly with the other person.
One thing that never changes with language: your money
Your communication language changes what you read — never what you earn or pay. Your earnings, payouts, receipts and refunds all stay in US dollars (USD) regardless of the language you're contacted in.
Quick answers
Can I read the site in one language but be messaged in another? Yes — that's exactly what the two separate settings are for. Set your display language with the site switcher, and your communication language under Notifications or Account.
Why can't I pick Arabic (or another message-only language) as my site language? The 12 message-only languages are for communication only — emails, notifications and message translation. They don't have a full-site version, search or Help Centre, so they only appear in the Notification language picker, not the site switcher.
A message-only language I want isn't in the list — why? It only becomes selectable once it's fully ready. If it isn't showing yet, it's still being prepared; check back and it will appear once ready.
Do I have to set a communication language? No. If you don't, it simply follows your display (browse) language — so for most people there's nothing to do.
