We have titles available in the following languages:

• Afrikaans, Afrikaans (children's titles)
• Bengali (children's titles)
• Arabic, Arabic (children's titles)
• Chinese, Chinese (children's titles)
• Dutch, Dutch (children's titles)
• Finnish (children's titles)
• French, French (children's titles)
• German, German (children's titles)
• Greek (children's titles)
• Hindi, Hindi (children's titles)
• Japanese, Japanese (children's titles)
• Korean, Korean (children's titles)
• Latin (children's titles)
• Persian, Persian (children's titles)
• Polish, Polish (children's titles)
• Russian, Russian (children's titles)
• Slovenian (children's titles)
• Somali (children's titles)
• Spanish, Spanish (children's titles)
• Tagalog, Tagalog (children's titles)
• Thai

Bilingual dictionaries

• Afrikaans
• Arabic
• Chinese
• Cook Island Māori (Rarotongan)
• Fijian
• French
• German
• Hindi
• Japanese
• Korean
• Niuean
• Persian
• Russian
• Samoan
• Somali
• Spanish
• Tagalog
• Thai
• Tokelauan
• Tongan
• Vietnamese

Te reo Māori and Pasifika languages

All our libraries have titles in te reo Māori in their Ngā Pounamu Māori collections.

Some libraries have Pasifika collections. Most of these books are for children. These include books in:

• Niuean, Niuean (children's titles)
• Rarotongan, Rarotongan (children's titles)
• Samoan, Samoan (children's titles)
• Tokelauan, Tokelauan (children's titles)
• Tongan, Tongan (children's titles)

Collection policy

We do not actively collect books in every language. For more information please see our World Languages Collection Policy.

World languages collections by library

World languages collections include adult fiction and non-fiction. Some children’s material is also available in these languages at each of these libraries. Please note that the children’s resources in world languages are usually shelved in the children’s areas.

Akaroa Library

French

Aranui Library

Niuean, Rarotongan, Samoan, Tokelauan and Tongan. A large proportion of this material is for children.

Fendalton Library

Chinese, Japanese, and Korean.

Te Hāpua: Halswell Centre

Chinese, French, Japanese, Korean, and Russian.

Hornby Library

Chinese

Linwood Library

Chinese, Korean, and Russian.  Some of this material is for children.

Papanui Library

Chinese, Japanese and Korean plus children's books in Chinese.

South Library

Chinese, Dutch, German, Japanese, and Korean

Shirley Library

Chinese, and Japanese

Tūranga

Afrikaans, Arabic, Chinese, Dutch, French, German, Hindi, Japanese, Korean, Persian, Polish, Russian, and Spanish are found in the world languages collection on Auahatanga | Creativity, Level 4. There is also a small selection of magazines in the following languages - Afrikaans, Chinese, French, German, Hindi, Italian, Japanese and Russian. Children’s books are found on Hapori | Community, Level 1.
Books in Niuean, Samoan, Tokelauan and Tongan languages are found in the Pasifika collection on Tuakiri | Identity, Level 2 . Most of these books are for children.

Upper Riccarton Library

Chinese, Japanese, Korean, Tagalog.