Internationalization国际化
Internationalization is the process of designing and structuring content, software, or systems so that they can be adapted to multiple languages and regions without major re-engineering, often abbreviated as i18n. It includes practices such as externalizing strings, supporting Unicode, and avoiding hard-coded cultural assumptions, and is treated in localization documentation as a preparatory stage that makes later localization faster, cheaper, and less error-prone.
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Where this term appears
Internationalization is addressed in product development before localization begins, especially in software engineering, content management, and design documentation. Teams separate localizable strings from source code, use character encoding that supports global scripts, and plan for text expansion, right-to-left languages, and locale data so that localization files can be processed without code changes.
Translation checks
A common error is confusing internationalization with localization or delaying i18n until after development is complete. When strings are hard-coded or the UI assumes a single locale, localization teams encounter broken layouts, encoding errors, and untranslatable content; this often requires expensive engineering fixes and significantly delays every target market locale.
Keep the term aligned across your files
Creative and consumer content needs accurate meaning as well as tone and context. Subtitles, interfaces and voice scripts also require checks for timing, character limits and pronunciation.
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Related document experience
Kraft Foods
Transcription + dubbingEmployee-training video transcription and dubbing.
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Alexander Wang (Shanghai)
English ⇄ ChineseBrand documentation.
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Include the source and target languages, file types, intended use, deadline and any approved termbase. Agree handling before sending sensitive files. Acknowledged in 4 hours, quoted in 24.
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