Guides to software localization

The reference material we kept needing and could not find in one place. Written to be useful whether or not you ever use locoloop — the tables are generated from the same data the product runs on, so they are accurate.

Reference

Plural rules by language

English has two forms, Polish four, Arabic six. The full CLDR table and what one, few and many actually cover.

Formal and informal address

du and Sie, tu and vous, です・ます and plain form — in 22 languages, with the formal forms that now read as dated.

File formats compared

What JSON, .xcstrings, Android XML, XLIFF, .po, YAML and .arb each carry, and how they hold plurals.

Practice

How this works when it is wired into a real build.

Continuous localization

Push source strings on merge, pull finished files back, gate the release on progress.

Working with outside translators

Scoping an agency to one app and a freelancer to one language.

Wording that differs per customer

White-label and per-market copy without forking the string file.

More articles are being written. If there is one you want — a format we have not covered, a language whose rules keep biting you — tell us and it goes to the top of the list. Looking for how to do something inside locoloop instead? That is the help centre.

Put it into practice

A workspace takes a minute, and the first import takes one drag.

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