Internationalization (i18n)

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Internationalization, often shortened to “i18n”, is the practice of designing a system in such a way that it can easily be adapted for different target audiences, that may vary in region, language, or culture.

The complementary process of adapting a system for a specific target audience is called {{glossary("Localization")}} .

Among other things, internationalization covers adapting to differences in:

• writing systems
• units of measure (currency, °C/°F, km/miles, etc.)
• time and date formats
• keyboard layouts

The work of the Unicode Consortium is a fundamental part of internationalization. Unicode supports not only variations among the world’s writing systems but also cultural variations such as currencies and time/date formats.

See also

• Related glossary terms:
  • {{glossary("Localization")}} 
• W3C Internationalization Activity
• Unicode Consortium
• JavaScript Internationalization API