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internationalization (I18N)

By Robert Sheldon

What is internationalization?

Internationalization is the process of designing and building a product so that it can be easily adapted to specific languages and cultures. The product might be an application, online service, line of merchandise, document or book, or anything else that will target audiences from different cultures who speak different languages. The term internationalization is often represented as i18n, where 18 is the number of letters between the word's opening "i" and closing "n."

Internationalization provides a foundation for more effectively localizing a product for multiple target audiences. It makes it possible to deliver a product more quickly to these audiences because it streamlines the localization process.

Although internationalization incurs more upfront development costs, it can lead to long-term savings when considering the costs of rolling out and updating a product that targets multiple markets. The product is also more appealing to a wider base of customers, which can increase revenue and offset the initial investment in internationalization.

Internationalizing software

Internationalization can apply to a wide range of products, but it is most often discussed in terms of software development because of the important role that applications and services have come to play in the global market. Although internationalizing can represent a significant effort when developing software, many organizations believe it is worth this investment when releasing software on a global scale.

Software developers use a variety of methods to internationalize their applications. Some of the more common methods include the following strategies:

The main goal of internationalizing software is to ensure that the source code remains independent of any one culture or language. The product can be more easily localized for each target audience without updating the source code in each case.

GILT: globalization, internationalization, localization, translation

Internationalization is often confused with globalization, localization or translation, but each concept has a specific meaning that distinguishes it from the others. Even so, the terms are related to each other in important ways, which is why they're often referenced together with the acronym GILT. The following diagram show how the four processes fit together.

The figure includes only two products as part of the globalization effort, but there can be any number of products. More importantly, it illustrates how internationalization, localization and translation fall under the larger globalization umbrella, with each playing a specific role in delivering a product:

Each of the four processes can be represented by a numeronym, a type of abbreviation that includes one or more numbers. Each numeronym includes the first letter, last letter and the number of letters in between, as highlighted with term internationalization. For example, globalization is often represented as g11n, where 11 is the number of letters between the word's opening "g" and its closing "n."

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06 Jun 2023

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