Internationalization, often abbreviated as i18n (where 18 stands for the number of letters between “i” and “n” in “internationalization”), is the process of designing and developing software applications that can be adapted to different languages and regions without engineering changes. It involves making the application capable of presenting content in multiple languages and adapting to various cultural conventions.
Internationalization is the initial step in preparing a software application for localization. It involves separating all text and other locale-specific elements from the source code, so they can be easily replaced with localized versions when the application is translated into different languages.
Key Components of Internationalization:
- Locale Identification: Identifying the user’s locale, including language, region, and cultural preferences.
- Text Localization: Extracting all text from the application and preparing it for translation into different languages.
- Date and Time Formatting: Adapting date and time formats based on the user’s locale.
- Number Formatting: Adapting number formats, decimal separators, and digit grouping based on the user’s locale.
- Currency Formatting: Adapting currency symbols and formats based on the user’s locale.
- Cultural Conventions: Adapting to various cultural conventions, such as calendars, measurement units, and sorting orders.