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Draft: RFC18 Multilang Mnemonic

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# #18 Multilang Mnemonic
 
 
```txt
 
RFC: 18
 
Title: Multilang Mnemonic
 
Type: Convention
 
Status: WIP
 
Author: tuxmain <tuxmain@zettascript.org>
 
Created: 2024-10-16
 
Last edited: 2024-10-16
 
License: AGPL-3
 
```
 
 
This RFC defines how to use multilang mnemonics in an alternative way than defined by [BIP39](https://github.com/bitcoin/bips/blob/master/bip-0039.mediawiki) while staying compatible with it.
 
 
## Motivation
 
 
Vanilla BIP39 discourages using non-English mnemonics and only few libraries and applications handle them. Users who want a non-English mnemonic thus loose compatibility with most of the ecosystem.
 
 
## English mnemonics
 
 
Mnemonics in English follow BIP39.
 
 
## Non-English mnemonics
 
 
BIP39 defines multilang (non-English) mnemonics using the hash of the sentence in the mnemonic's language.
 
 
A dictionary `D` of size `N` is an ordered list that contains the distinct words `D(1), ..., D(N)`.
 
 
All dictionaries have the same size `N`.
 
 
Let `E` be the English dictionary, and `M` a multilang dictionary.
 
 
The only change of the present RFC with respect to BIP39 is that in the hash's input, each word `M(i)` is replaced with the corresponding English word `E(i)`.
 
 
Applications SHOULD allow the user to export their multilang mnemonic to English (using the inverse bijection) to allow full compatibility with BIP39.
 
 
## Example
 
 
| index | English Dictionary | French Dictionary |
 
| ----- | ------------------ | ----------------- |
 
| 0 | energy | dotation |
 
| 1 | curve | commande |
 
| 0 | energy | dotation |
 
| 2 | pepper | naufrage |
 
| 3 | sort | révulsif |
 
| 4 | weasel | ventouse |
 
| 5 | yellow | voyelle |
 
 
The French mnemonic `dotation ventouse naufrage` generates the same seed as the English mnemonic `energy weasel pepper`.
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