Fearless Internationalization and Localization Across the Nations

Many people are intimidated by localization (l10n) and internationalization (i18n) but they don’t have to be—Android provides many tools out of the box to aide you in global domination. Learn what to watch out for while coding your app that will make your life easier once you receive localized content. We’ll cover alternate resources, strings files, date and number formatters and other tips from Android Studio, Google, and third parties that will turn you into an i18n and l10n champion.

Transcript

1. Fearless
   Internationalization and
   Localization Across the
   Nations
   Siena Aguayo
   Software Engineer at Indiegogo
   @sienatime
   

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2. ● What are l10n and i18n?
   Overview
   ● Why should I care?
   ● How do I internationalize my Android app?
   ● What other cool things can I do?
   

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5. What are l10n and i18n?
   

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6. localization
   internationalization
   01 02 03 04 05 06 07 08 09 10
   01 02 03 04 05 06 07 08 09 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18
   

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7. Localization
   ● Translating content into target languages
   ● Displaying data (dates, numbers, currencies,
   etc.) according to target region
   ● Adjusting branding according to target
   culture
   BUSINESS
   

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8. Internationalization
   ● Preparing your app for localized content
   ○ Defining alternate resource files
   ○ Using number and date formatters
   ○ Designing flexible layouts
   ENGINEERING
   

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9. localization
   internationalization
   not just translation™
   

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10. Why should I care?
    

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11. EMPATHY
    

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12. Android peeps made with androidify.com
    Android is everywhere!
    

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13. From a technical perspective...
    ● Separation of concerns
    ● Organization & readability
    

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14. ya ain’t gonna need it
    

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15. How do I internationalize my
    Android app?
    

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16. How do I prepare my Android app
    for localized content?
    

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17. What content is localizable?
    ● Strings
    ● Numbers and currency
    ● Dates and time
    ● Images with text on them (avoid)
    ● Audio and video files
    

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18. Resource Files Java
    Strings
    Images
    Audio
    Video
    Numbers
    Currency
    Dates
    Time
    

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19. Resource Files
    ● Have a set of default resources
    ● Define alternates as you need them
    res
    values
    strings.xml
    

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20. Strings
    ● Don’t hardcode strings that face the user
    ● Use position placeholders %1$s %2$s
    ● Provide context for your translators to help
    make their job easier
    I need to %s interpolate %s I need to %1$s interpolate %2$s
    

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21. Android Is on Your Side
    

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22. 
    Indiegogo
    
    Hey, Don’t Translate This
    Helpful lint errors
    

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23. note="example: Ended on January 21, 2014">
    Ended on %s
    
    XML Is Extensible
    

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24. Numbers & Currencies
    import java.text.NumberFormat;
    NumberFormat numberFormat = NumberFormat.getInstance();
    textView.setText(numberFormat.format(36965));
    

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25. strings.xml
    
    %s friend
    %s friends
    
    Plurals
    beware of %d
    *.java
    res.getQuantityString(
    R.plurals.number_of_fb_friends,
    count,
    numberFormat.format(count)
    );
    

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26. Dates & Time
    // DateFormat.getDateFormat (short)
    // DateFormat.getMediumDateFormat
    // DateFormat.getLongDateFormat
    en_US
    short: 8/23/2015
    medium: Aug 23, 2015
    long: August 23, 2015
    ja_JP
    short: 2015/08/23
    medium: 2015/08/23
    long: 2015年8月23日
    DateFormat dateFormatter = DateFormat.getDateFormat(context);
    Date now = new Date();
    dateFormatter.format(now);
    

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27. Custom Date Formats: API 18+
    String formatString = DateFormat.getBestDateTimePattern(
    Locale.getDefault(), "MMMMyyyy"
    );
    SimpleDateFormat dateFormatter = new SimpleDateFormat
    (formatString);
    Date now = new Date();
    String dateString = dateFormatter.format(now);
    en_US: August 2015
    ja_JP: 2015年8月
    

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28. Custom Date Formats: API <18
    ● ¯\_(ツ)_/¯
    ● Collect date formats you need and keep
    them in your resources
    ● ...but Android is still going to format
    according to the user’s locale even if you
    don’t support it
    ● Joda-Time
    

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29. SpannableString & String.format
    ● Try to avoid
    ● Replace, if you can, with HTML in your
    strings.xml (limited tag support)
    public void setSpan (Object what, int start, int end, int flags)
    textView.setText(Html.fromHtml(
    res.getString(R.string.fixed_funding))
    );
    

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30. Build Flexible Layouts
    ● Thank God for wrap_content
    ● Be mindful of line lengths
    ● What would happen if these two pieces of
    data needed to be switched around?
    

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31. What other cool things can I do?
    

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32. Android Studio Translations Editor
    

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33. Google Play App Translation Service
    

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34. Google Play Developer Console → Statistics
    ● What languages and countries your users
    are in
    ● How your app compares to others in your
    category
    

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35. Smartling
    ● Paid translation service
    ● API and Java SDK
    ● Update strings files with a push and a pull
    

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36. Smartling: Push
    $ ./smartling.sh push
    Pushing strings.xml to smartling...
    ApiResponse[data=UploadFileData[stringCount=207,
    wordCount=506,overWritten=false],code=SUCCESS,messages=[]]
    

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37. Smartling: Pull
    $ ./smartling.sh pull
    Pulling non-English locales from smartling...
    pulling fr-Fr from smartling...
    saved fr-Fr to /app/src/main/res/values-fr/strings.xml
    pulling de-DE from smartling...
    saved de-DE to /app/src/main/res/values-de/strings.xml
    pulling es from smartling...
    saved es to /app/src/main/res/values-es/strings.xml
    

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38. Further Reading
    ● Localizing with Resources http://developer.android.
    com/guide/topics/resources/localization.html
    ● Localization Checklist http://developer.android.
    com/distribute/tools/localization-checklist.html
    ● Google Play App Translation Service blog post http://android-
    developers.blogspot.com/2013/11/app-translation-service-now-
    available.html
    ● Smartling API http://docs.smartling.com/pages/API/v2/
    ● Smartling Java SDK http://docs.smartling.
    com/pages/API/v2/SDKs/#Java
    

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39. Go out and be fearless!
    Any questions?
    @sienatime
    

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