🌍 Global control 🌐 Adapting for countries 💻 Making software global

internationalization

6.1

Designing software so people in different countries can use it in their language and formats

noun
/ˌɪntəˌnæʃənəlaɪˈzeɪʃən/

Specialized

: internacionalización

Effective internationalization requires careful planning to accommodate the diverse needs of a global audience.

Examples

We also need writers and translators for the user manual and interface internationalization (I18N) files.

Blog text (26)
Benjamin Snyder, January 2012, Vol. 55, No. 1, Communications of the ACM 11, ACM's annual report for FY11. Internationalization FY11 marked the first full year of operation for ACM Europe and ACM India.

Academic text (2012)
The software's internationalization makes it accessible to users in various countries by supporting multiple languages.
We prioritized internationalization to ensure that our application could easily adapt to different cultural conventions.

Antonyms

localization

Specialized

3 4.1

Changing a product so it fits the language and ways of people in a country

How Internationalized

internationalization

Specialized

6.1

localization

Specialized

3 4.1

Surface Forms

internationalization singular

internationalizations plural

internationalisations plural

internationalisation singular

Morphology

internationalization = internationalize (semi-transparent) = inter + nation + al + ize + ation

Formally transparent, but the computing sense is a domain-specific extension (designing software for multiple locales) that may not be obvious to learners without technical knowledge.

Etymology

Internationalization is built from inter- 'between', nation 'country', and -ization 'the process of making', and a helpful way to remember it is to think of making something 'between countries'. That's why in computing it means designing software so it can work for many languages, regions, and cultures.