What is Internationalization?

By the term "Internationalization," or l18n as it is often referred to in the localization industry, we are talking about a process by which software can be easily designed to accommodate different locales (languages and regions). In other words, the software can be translated without engineering changes needed to the core product.

This "world readiness," as Microsoft defines it, means that the localization process is much easier when you need your software product localized.

 A lot of companies start by designing software for only one language. The software engineers and designers get excited about how nice a user interface (UI) is shaping up or how awesome the documentation looks. They don't stop and think about whether the company will need to sell this software abroad in the future or what the user experience (UX) will be like for international users.  But why do so many of the world's top software designers avoid this trap? The simple answer is Internationalization.

Software Internationalization Tips

Here are a few internationalization tips on how to get your software localization ready:

•  Use consistent character encoding.
• Externalize user interface (UI) strings.
• Ensure dialog boxes resize dynamically.
• Avoid concatenating strings.
• Leave room in controls for text expansion.
• Use help context links that are not linguistic and do not require translation.
• Test that numeric date and time formats work for other regions or rely on operating system locale settings.
• Check currency conversion for other countries: e.g., GB £ to Euro €.
• Test that files can be exported/imported to XLIFF for localization.

 A good internationalization plan implemented during your software design phase will ensure that the localization of your software product into other languages will be faster, cheaper, and less problematic. It will also ensure that your international customers receive a localized product that feels like it was designed for them in their language.

 These are just some tips for your software design team during product development. But you can do more things while you wait for your software localization project to start, including automating the translation of your CMS content with a connector or providing context for software localization.

Why not contact SimulTrans to discuss more Internationalization strategies?