Internationalization on Bitbucket

by Jonathan Robson

What is i18n and l10n?

internationalization = i + 18 letters + n = i18n

Internationalization is a means of making your software work in different languages.

localization = l + 10 letters + n = l10n

Localization is a means of making your software work in different regions.

Django i18n functions

	Returns UTF-8 bytestring	Returns a unicode string	Requires context message (also returns unicode)
Without pluralization	gettext	ugettext	pgettext
With pluralization	ngettext	ungettext	npgettext
*Lazy without* pluralization**	gettext_lazy	ugettext_lazy	pgettext_lazy
*Lazy with* pluralization**	ngettext_lazy	ungettext_lazy	npgettext_lazy

Usage

from django.utils.translation import ugettext as _
from django.http import HttpResponse

def my_view(request):
    output = _('Welcome to my site.')
    return HttpResponse(output)

The underscore function _( ) is a common convention in gettext just to make things more concise and not let i18n get too much in the way, but it's not required.

from django.utils.translation import ugettext
from django.http import HttpResponse

def my_view(request):
    output = ugettext('Welcome to my site.')
    return HttpResponse(output)

Use string literals!

def my_view(request):
    words = ['Welcome', 'to', 'my', 'site.']
    output = _(' '.join(words))
    return HttpResponse(output)

def my_view(request):
    sentence = 'Welcome to my site.'
    output = _(sentence)
    return HttpResponse(output)

Don't do this:

Or this:

Using variables

def my_view(request, m, d):
    output = _('Today is %(month)s %(day)s.') % {'month': m, 'day': d}
    return HttpResponse(output)

If you need to include variables in your string, use gettext's interpolation functionality.

Use named parameters! Don't just use %s or %d!

Pluralization

from django.utils.translation import ungettext
from django.http import HttpResponse

def hello_world(request, count):
    page = ungettext(
        'there is %(count)d object',
        'there are %(count)d objects',
    count) % {
        'count': count,
    }
    return HttpResponse(page)

Do NOT programmatically add "s" to the end of things. (facepalm)

Context

from django.utils.translation import pgettext

month = pgettext("month name", "May")

def my_view(request):
    # Translators: This message appears on the home page only
    output = ugettext("Welcome to my site.")

or...

Building translations

Build django.po file for English
Generate i18n.js file
Build djangojs.po file for English
Push .po files to Transifex for English
Pull .po files from Transifex for other languages
Merge with local .po files
Compile .po files into .mo files
Generate djangojs.js files