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<div class="section" id="s-internationalization-and-localization">
<span id="internationalization-and-localization"></span><h1>Internationalization and localization<a class="headerlink" href="#internationalization-and-localization" title="Permalink to this headline">¶</a></h1>
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<div class="section" id="s-overview">
<span id="overview"></span><h2>Overview<a class="headerlink" href="#overview" title="Permalink to this headline">¶</a></h2>
<p>The goal of internationalization and localization is to allow a single Web
application to offer its content in languages and formats tailored to the
audience.</p>
<p>Django has full support for <a class="reference internal" href="translation.html"><em>translation of text</em></a>, <a class="reference internal" href="formatting.html"><em>formatting of dates, times and numbers</em></a>, and <a class="reference internal" href="timezones.html"><em>time zones</em></a>.</p>
<p>Essentially, Django does two things:</p>
<ul class="simple">
<li>It allows developers and template authors to specify which parts of their apps
should be translated or formatted for local languages and cultures.</li>
<li>It uses these hooks to localize Web apps for particular users according to
their preferences.</li>
</ul>
<p>Obviously, translation depends on the target language, and formatting usually
depends on the target country. These informations are provided by browsers in
the <tt class="docutils literal"><span class="pre">Accept-Language</span></tt> header. However, the time zone isn’t readily available.</p>
</div>
<div class="section" id="s-definitions">
<span id="definitions"></span><h2>Definitions<a class="headerlink" href="#definitions" title="Permalink to this headline">¶</a></h2>
<p>The words “internationalization” and “localization” often cause confusion;
here’s a simplified definition:</p>
<dl class="glossary docutils">
<dt id="term-internationalization">internationalization</dt>
<dd>Preparing the software for localization. Usually done by developers.</dd>
<dt id="term-localization">localization</dt>
<dd>Writing the translations and local formats. Usually done by translators.</dd>
</dl>
<p>More details can be found in the <a class="reference external" href="http://www.w3.org/International/questions/qa-i18n">W3C Web Internationalization FAQ</a>, the <a class="reference external" href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Internationalization_and_localization">Wikipedia article</a> or the <a class="reference external" href="http://www.gnu.org/software/gettext/manual/gettext.html#Concepts">GNU gettext documentation</a>.</p>
<div class="admonition warning">
<p class="first admonition-title">Warning</p>
<p class="last">Translation and formatting are controlled by <a class="reference internal" href="../../ref/settings.html#std:setting-USE_I18N"><tt class="xref std std-setting docutils literal"><span class="pre">USE_I18N</span></tt></a> and
<a class="reference internal" href="../../ref/settings.html#std:setting-USE_L10N"><tt class="xref std std-setting docutils literal"><span class="pre">USE_L10N</span></tt></a> settings respectively. However, both features involve
internationalization and localization. The names of the settings are an
unfortunate result of Django’s history.</p>
</div>
<p>Here are some other terms that will help us to handle a common language:</p>
<dl class="glossary docutils">
<dt id="term-locale-name">locale name</dt>
<dd>A locale name, either a language specification of the form <tt class="docutils literal"><span class="pre">ll</span></tt> or a
combined language and country specification of the form <tt class="docutils literal"><span class="pre">ll_CC</span></tt>.
Examples: <tt class="docutils literal"><span class="pre">it</span></tt>, <tt class="docutils literal"><span class="pre">de_AT</span></tt>, <tt class="docutils literal"><span class="pre">es</span></tt>, <tt class="docutils literal"><span class="pre">pt_BR</span></tt>. The language part is
always is lower case and the country part in upper case. The separator
is an underscore.</dd>
<dt id="term-language-code">language code</dt>
<dd>Represents the name of a language. Browsers send the names of the
languages they accept in the <tt class="docutils literal"><span class="pre">Accept-Language</span></tt> HTTP header using this
format. Examples: <tt class="docutils literal"><span class="pre">it</span></tt>, <tt class="docutils literal"><span class="pre">de-at</span></tt>, <tt class="docutils literal"><span class="pre">es</span></tt>, <tt class="docutils literal"><span class="pre">pt-br</span></tt>. Both the language
and the country parts are in lower case. The separator is a dash.</dd>
<dt id="term-message-file">message file</dt>
<dd>A message file is a plain-text file, representing a single language,
that contains all available <a class="reference internal" href="#term-translation-string"><em class="xref std std-term">translation strings</em></a> and how they should be represented in the given
language. Message files have a <tt class="docutils literal"><span class="pre">.po</span></tt> file extension.</dd>
<dt id="term-translation-string">translation string</dt>
<dd>A literal that can be translated.</dd>
<dt id="term-format-file">format file</dt>
<dd>A format file is a Python module that defines the data formats for a given
locale.</dd>
</dl>
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<h3><a href="../../contents.html">Table Of Contents</a></h3>
<ul>
<li><a class="reference internal" href="#">Internationalization and localization</a><ul>
<li><a class="reference internal" href="#overview">Overview</a></li>
<li><a class="reference internal" href="#definitions">Definitions</a></li>
</ul>
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<h3>Last update:</h3>
<p class="topless">Feb 21, 2013</p>
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