---
title: "Serialization — Translatable for Laravel | Roundly"
description: "toArray(), toJson(), JSON responses and API Resources emit each attribute’s resolved locale value, not the raw map."
url: https://roundly-consulting.com/open-source/docs/translatable-for-laravel/serialization
language: en
---

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# Serialization

toArray(), toJson(), response()->json($model) and API Resources emit the resolved locale value for each translatable attribute — identical to $model->name — not the raw stored JSON map:

```php
app()->setLocale('en');

$topic->toArray()['name'];   // "Investing"  (localized, through the fallback chain)
$topic->toJson();            // {"name":"Investing", …}
TopicResource::make($topic); // {"name":"Investing"}
response()->json($topic);    // same resolved values
```

The effective FallbackMode is honoured: a model in None mode with only sk set serializes name as null for an en request. Persisted data is untouched — this changes output shape only.

## Exposing the full map

When an admin screen needs every locale, call getTranslations() explicitly — for example in a dedicated resource:

```php
use Illuminate\Http\Request;
use Illuminate\Http\Resources\Json\JsonResource;

final class AdminTopicResource extends JsonResource
{
    public function toArray(Request $request): array
    {
        return [
            'id' => $this->id,
            'name' => $this->getTranslations('name'),           // ['en' => '…', 'sk' => '…']
            'missing' => $this->missingTranslations(),          // field => missing locales
            'completeness' => $this->translationCompleteness(), // 0.0–1.0
        ];
    }
}
```

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