Internationalization (i18n) issues

An internationalization issue caused by the way the software is implemented.

Language testers can report internationalization issues.

Thereby, they enter the required fields as specified in the selected quality profile.

A quality profile is derived from a quality framework (e.g. DQF or MQM).

It determines the available categories for the i18n errors.

Internationalization issues are usually corrected by developers.

Most i18n issues are caused by assumptions that developers make. 

How to avoid i18n issues?

Simple: as a developer do not make any assumptions.

If something works in your language, then it may not work other languages.

i18n error categories

TBD

We will provide an overview of all i18n issues + examples + tips how developers can resolve them here.

Examples

Examples of i18n issues are:

Hardcoded strings

Hardcoded strings in the user interface cannot be translated.

1. How to fix: developers need to externalize the string in a resource file and assign a string id.
   

Setting a string to uppercase or lowercase programmatically can also be considered as an example of hardcoding.

Concatenation

Concatenation of strings can come in various forms, for example:

1. two strings are concatenated to form a new string.
   How to fix: developers need to define a separate string with a unique string id.
   
   
2. a colon is 'glued' to a string. However in some languages (like French), there must be a space before a colon: "name:" will be translated as "nom :".
   How to fix: developers must include the colon as part of the string, or use a different design that does not require colons.
   

Concatenation of punctuations can change the meaning of a string. Here is an interesting example for the Japanese translation for "search":

The second option was the original string.

1. SEARCH: To create this string, the developers implemented a method to display the string in UPPERCASE. However, this requires a completely different translation in Japanese.
   
2. Search...: To create this string, the developers concatenated "..."after Search. However, in Japanese this changes the context of the string, which requires a completely different translation.
   

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