About Internationalization and Localization

First and foremost, neither internationalization nor localization is the same thing as translation. In fact, you can have a fully translated Web siteall in German, all in Japanese, or all in whatever language you wantand it will not be considered an internationalized or localized Web site. It will just be a translated one. The key aspects to internationalization are as follows:

• Externalizing all strings, icons, and graphics

• Modifying the display of formatting functions (dates, currency, numbers, and so on)

After you have constructed your application so that your strings are externalized and your formatting functions can change per locale, you can begin the process of localization. Translation happens to be a part of that.

A locale is essentially a groupingin this case, a grouping of the translated strings, graphics, text, and formatting conventions that will be used in the application or Web site to be localized. These groupings are usually referred to by the name of the pervasive language of the application, such as the German locale. Although it might be obvious that the German locale includes text translated into German, it does not mean that the Web site is applicable only to people in GermanyAustrians who speak German would probably utilize a localized German Web site, but it would not be referred to as the Austrian locale.

In the next few sections, you learn about working with different character sets and how to modify your environment to successfully prepare your applications for localization.