---
title: "[Set Up Your Project] - About Fallback Languages"
description: About fallback languages and how to retrieve fallback language content for published entries.
url: https://www.contentstack.com/docs/developers/multilingual-content/about-fallback-languages
product: Contentstack
doc_type: concept
audience:
  - developers
  - content-managers
version: current
last_updated: 2026-03-26
---

# [Set Up Your Project] - About Fallback Languages

This page explains what fallback languages are in Contentstack multilingual content, how fallback inheritance works when localized content is missing, and how to retrieve published fallback language content via the Content Delivery API. It is intended for developers and stack administrators configuring languages and fetching localized content.

## About Fallback Languages

A fallback language is the parent language from which a given [language](/docs/developers/multilingual-content/about-languages) inherits data from. Contentstack allows you to define a fallback language for every language you add to a [stack](/docs/developers/set-up-stack/about-stack).

Using a fallback language, you have control over the source content for a given language. You can then make changes to the fetched content and [localize an entry](/docs/developers/multilingual-content/localize-an-entry) in the given language. For a given language, if there is no data available in the fallback language, the entry will fetch data from the master language.

For example, you can set **English (United States)** as the fallback language for **French (France)**, and **French (France)** as the fallback language for **Spanish (Spain)**. In this case, when you try to create an entry in **Spanish (Spain)**, it will first fetch the content of the entry created in **French (France)**. If no data is available in **French (France)**, it will fetch data from the [master language](/docs/developers/multilingual-content/set-the-master-language).

**Note**: You cannot [create a fallback-language](/docs/developers/multilingual-content/add-a-language) chain deeper than one level for non-master languages. So, in the above example, you cannot set a fallback language (other than the master language) for Spanish (Spain).

## Retrieve Fallback Language Content for Published Entries

When an entry is not published in a specific language, you can fetch content from its fallback language (only if it is published) in the same [Content Delivery API](/docs/developers/apis/content-delivery-api) request.

To automatically include the published fallback language content in your API response, pass the `include_fallback:true` parameter in the request. Learn more about retrieving fallback language content for published [entries](/docs/developers/apis/content-delivery-api#entries) and [assets](/docs/developers/apis/content-delivery-api#assets).

The following diagram illustrates the data inheritance fallback logic between each of the languages in which the entries of a stack have been published

As shown in the above diagram, **English (United States)** is the master language of the stack. The entries have not been published in the following languages:
- **Chinese - Singapore** (with **Chinese - China** as fallback)
- **Spanish - Spain** (with **English - United States** as fallback)
- **Spanish - Mexico** (with **Spanish - Spain** as fallback)

If an entry is not published in **Spanish (Mexico)**, then you can fetch the entry published in **Spanish (Spain)**. However, if the entry is not published in **(****Spanish - Spain)**, then you can fetch content from the master language, i.e. **English (United States**).

## API Reference

To fetch published fallback language content via API, refer to the following API requests:
- [Get all entries](/docs/developers/apis/content-delivery-api#get-all-entries)
- [Get a single entry](/docs/developers/apis/content-delivery-api#get-a-single-entry)
- [Get all assets](/docs/developers/apis/content-delivery-api#get-all-assets)
- [Get a single asset](/docs/developers/apis/content-delivery-api#get-a-single-asset)

## Common questions

### What happens if there is no data available in the fallback language?
For a given language, if there is no data available in the fallback language, the entry will fetch data from the master language.

### Can I create a fallback-language chain deeper than one level for non-master languages?
No. You cannot create a fallback-language chain deeper than one level for non-master languages.

### How do I include published fallback language content in an API response?
Pass the `include_fallback:true` parameter in the request to automatically include the published fallback language content in your API response.

### Can I retrieve fallback language content for both entries and assets?
Yes. Learn more about retrieving fallback language content for published [entries](/docs/developers/apis/content-delivery-api#entries) and [assets](/docs/developers/apis/content-delivery-api#assets).