xref: /frameworks/base/docs/html/distribute/googleplay/publish/localizing.jd

page.title=Localization Checklist
page.tags="localize","localization","resources", "formats", "l10n"
@jd:body

<div id="qv-wrapper"><div id="qv">
<h2>Checklist</h2>
<ol>
<li><a href="#target-languages">1. Identify target languages</a></li>
<li><a href="#design">2. Design for localization</a></li>
<li><a href="#strings">3. Manage strings for localization</a></li>
<li><a href="#translate">4. Translate UI strings</a></li>
<li><a href="#test">5. Test your localized app</a></li>
<li><a href="#prelaunch">6. Prepare for international launch</a></li>
<li><a href="#support">7. Support international users</a></li>
</ol>
<h2>See Also</h2>
<ol>
<li><a href="{@docRoot}distribute/googleplay/promote/badges.html">Google Play Badge Builder</a></li>
<li><a href="{@docRoot}distribute/promote/device-art.html">Device Art Generator</a></li>
<li><a href="#gp-trans">Translations in Google Play</a></li>
<li><a href="{@docRoot}sdk/installing/installing-adt.html#tmgr">ADT Translation Manager Plugin</a></li>
</ol>
</div></div>

<p>Android and Google Play give you a worldwide audience for your app, with an
addressable user base that's growing very rapidly in countries such as Japan,
Korea, India, Brazil, Russia, and elsewhere. </p>

<p>To maximize your app's distribution potential and earn high ratings from
users around the world, we strongly encourage you to localize your app. </p>

<p>Localization involves a variety of tasks throughout your app's development
cycle, and advance planning is essential. Some of the tasks include
translating your UI strings and localizing dates and times, layouts, text
direction, and finally your Google Play store listing. </p>

<p>This document helps you identify key aspects of localization to prepare for
and the tasks you'll need to perform, to get your app ready for a
successful worldwide launch on Google Play.</p>


<h2 id="target-languages">1. Identify target languages and locales</h2>

<p>A basic but important step in preparing for localization is identifying the
countries where you will distribute your app and the languages spoken there.
Google Play lets you distribute your app broadly to hundreds of countries, reaching
users who speak a variety of languages. </p>

<p>For international users, you can manage your app on three main dimensions:
country, locale, and language. Of those, language is the key consideration for
localization, although locale is also significant because of differences in
formats for dates, times, currencies, and similar information. Users control
both the language and locale used on their Android devices and in turn those
affect the display of your app, once installed.</p>

<p>Typically, you would decide which countries to target first, based on overall
market size and opportunity, app category, competitive landscape, local pricing
and financial factors, and so on. Then, based on your country targeting, you
would determine the languages you need to support in your app. </p>

<p>You will need to decide when to localize into some or all of the languages in your targeted countries. In some countries it might make most sense to deliver an app
in a major regional or international language only, rather than in all locally
spoken languages. Similarly, based on overall market size, you might decide to
deliver your app in only a small number of key languages and offer English or
another language for other countries. You can add more languages in the future
as your app's userbase grows.</p>

<p>Localizing your app is particularly important in countries where there is a
large market opportunity and English or another international language is not
widely used. Once you have identified your target languages, you can focus your
development, translation, testing, and marketing efforts to these markets.</p>


<table>
<tr>
<td><p>Related resources:</p>
<ul style="margin-top:-.5em;">
<li><strong><a href="http://support.google.com/googleplay/android-developer/bin/answer.py?hl=en&answer=138294&topic=2365624&ctx=topic">Supported locations for distributing applications</a></strong> on Google Play.
.</li>
</ul>
</td>
</tr>
</table>


<h2 id="design">2. Design for localization</h2>

<p>After you've determined your target languages for localization, assess what
you'll need to do to support them in your app and plan the work early. Consider
the vocabulary expansion, script requirements, character spacing and wrapping
constraints, left-to-right and right-to-left support, and other potential
factors in each language.

<h4>Design a single set of flexible layouts</h4>

<p>As you create your layouts, make sure that any UI elements that hold text are
designed generously. Its good to allow more space than necessary for your
language (up to 30% more is normal) to accommodate other languages.</p>

<p>Also, elements should be able to expand horizontally or vertically to
accommodate variations in the width and height of UI strings or input text. Your
text strings should not overlap borders or the screen edge in any of your target
languages.</p>

<p>If you design your UI carefully, you can typically use a single set of
layouts for all of the languages you support. See <a
href="{@docRoot}training/basics/fragments/fragment-ui.html">Building a Flexible
UI</a> for more information.</p>

<h4 id="rtl">Use alternative layouts where needed</h4>

<p>In cases where your UI can't accommodate text in one of your target
languages, you can create an <a
href="{@docRoot}guide/topics/resources/providing-resources.
html#AlternativeResources">alternative layout</a> for that language only.
Android makes it easy to declare sets of layouts and other resources to load for
specific languages, locales, screen sizes, and so on, simply by tagging them
with the appropriate resource qualifiers. </p>

<p>Although you can use alternative layouts to work around isolated issues, they
can also make your app harder to maintain over time. In general, using a single,
more flexible layout is preferred. </p>

<h4 id="rtl">Support RTL layouts and text</h4>

<p>If you are distributing to countries where right-to-left (RTL) scripts are used,
should consider implementing support for RTL layouts and text display and
editing, to the extent possible. </p>

<p>Android 4.1 introduced limited support for bidirectional text, allowing apps
to display and edit text in both left-to-right (LTR) and right-to-left (RTL)
scripts. Android 4.2 added <a
href="http://android-developers.blogspot.fr/2013/03/native-rtl-support-in-
android-42.html">full native support for RTL layouts</a>, including layout
mirroring, so that you can deliver the same great app experience to all of your
users. </p>

<p>At a minimum, for Android 4.2 users, it's simple to add basic RTL layout
mirroring, which goes a long way toward meeting the needs of RTL users. </p>

<h4 id="formats">Use system-provided formats for dates, times, numbers, and
currencies</h4>

<p>Where your app specifies dates, times, numbers, currencies, and other
entities that can vary by locale, make sure to use the system-provided formats,
rather than app-specific formats. Keep in mind that not every locale uses the
same thousands separator, decimal separator, or percent sign. </p>

<p>Android provides a variety of utilities for formatting and converting
patterns across locales, such as {@link android.text.format.DateUtils DateUtils} and
{@link java.text.DateFormat DateFormat} for
dates; {@link java.lang.String#format String.format()} or {@link java.text.DecimalFormat DecimalFormat} for
numbers and currency; {@link android.telephony.PhoneNumberUtils
PhoneNumberUtils} for phone numbers; and others.</p>

<p>If you hard-code your formats based on assumptions about the user's locale,
your app could encounter problems when the user changes to another locale. The
easiest and most reliable approach is to always use system-provided formats and
utilities.</p>

<h4 id="default-resources">Include a full set of default resources</h4>

<p>Make sure that your app can run properly regardless of language or locale by
providing a complete set of default resources. The app's default resources are
those that are <em>not marked</em> with any language or locale qualifiers, for
example those stored in <code>res/drawable/</code> and <code>res/values/</code>.
If your app attempts to load a resource that isn't available in the current
language or in the default set, the app will crash. </p>

<p>Whatever the default language you are using in your app, make sure that you
store the associated layouts, drawables, and strings in default resource
directories, without language or locale qualifiers.  </p>

<table>
<tr>
<td><p>Related resources:</p>
<ul style="margin-top:-.5em;">
<li><strong><a href="http://android-developers.blogspot.fr/2013/03/native-rtl-support-in-android-42.html">Native RTL Support in Android 4.2</a></strong> &mdash; Blog post that explains how to support RTL in your UI.</li>
<li><strong><a href="{@docRoot}guide/topics/resources/string-resource.html#Plurals">Quantity Strings (Plurals)</a></strong> &mdash; Developer guide describing how to work with string plurals according to rules of grammar in a given locale. </li>
<li><strong>{@link java.util.Locale Locale}</strong> &mdash; Reference information about how to use locale data determine exactly what CLDR data or version of the Unicode spec a particular Android platform version uses.</li>
</ul>
</td>
</tr>
</table>


<h2 id="managing-strings">3. Manage strings for localization</h2>

<p>It's important to manage your app's UI strings properly, so that you deliver
a great experience for users and make localization straightforward.</p>

<h4 id="strings">Move all strings into strings.xml</h4>

<p>As you build your app, remember that it's a best practice to keep all of your
UI strings in a single file that's easy to update and localize. Declare
<em>all</em> of your strings as resources in a default <code>strings.xml</code>
file. Do not hard-code any strings into your compiled code&mdash;hard-coded
strings are much more difficult to extract, translate, and load properly.

<p>If you keep all of your default strings in a <code>strings.xml</code> file,
you can quickly extract them for translation, and once the translated strings
are integrated back into your app with appropriate qualifiers, your app can load
them without any changes to your compiled code.</p>

<p>If you generate images with text, put those strings in <code>strings.xml</code> as well,
and regenerate the images after translation.</p>

<h4 id="style">Follow Android guidelines for UI strings</h4>

<p>As you design and develop your UI, make sure that you pay close attention to
<em>how</em> you talk to your user. In general, use a <a
href="{@docRoot}design/style/writing.html">succinct and compressed style</a>
that is friendly but brief, and use a consistent style throughout your UI.
</p>

<p>Make sure that you read and follow the Android Design recommendations for <a
href="{@docRoot}design/style/writing.html">writing style and word choice</a>.
Doing so will make your app appear more polished to the user and will help users
understand your UI more quickly. </p>

<p>Also, always use Android standard terminology wherever possible&mdash;such as
for UI elements such as "Action Bar," "Options Menu," "System Bar,"
"Notifications," and so on. Using Android terms correctly and consistently
makes translation easier and results in a better end-product for users.</p>

<h4 id="context">Provide sufficient context for declared strings</h4>

<p>As you declare strings in your <code>strings.xml</code> file, make sure to describe the
context in which the string is used. Add comments before each string that may
need clarification. This information will be invaluable to translators and will
help you manage your strings more effectively over time.</p>

<p>For example, background information to provide might include:</p>

<ul>
  <li>What is this string for? When/where is it presented to the user?</li>
<li>Where is this in the layout? For example, if its a button, translations are
less flexible than if it were a text box. </li>
</ul>

<p>Here's an example: </p>

<pre>&lt;!-- The action for submitting a form. This text is on a button that can fit 30 chars --&gt;
&lt;string name="login_submit_button"&gt;Sign in&lt;/string&gt;</pre>

<h4 id="xliff">Mark message parts that should not be translated</h4>

<p>Often strings contain contain text that should not be translated to other
languages. Common examples might be a piece of code, a placeholder for a value,
a special symbol, or a name. As you prepare you strings for translation, look
for and mark text that should remain as-is, without translation, so that
translators do not change it. </p>

<p>To mark text that should not be translated, use an
<code>&lt;xliff:g&gt;</code> placeholder tag. Here's an example tag that ensures
the text %1$s will not be changed during translation (otherwise it could break
the message):</p>

<pre>&lt;string name="countdown"&gt;
    &lt;xliff:g id="time" example="5 days&gt;%1$s&lt;/xliff:g&gt;until holiday
&lt;/string&gt;</pre>

<p>When you declare a placeholder tag, always add an <code>id</code> attribute
that explains what the placeholder is for. If your app will later replace the
placeholder value, be sure to provide an example attribute to clarify the expected
usage.</p>

<p>Here are some more examples of placeholder tag usage:</p>
<pre>&lt;resources xmlns:xliff="urn:oasis:names:tc:xliff:document:1.2"&gt;
    &lt;!-- Example placeholder for a special unicode symbol --&gt;
    &lt;string name="star_rating"&gt;Check out our 5 
        &lt;xliff:g id="star"&gt;\u2605&lt;/xliff:g&gt;
    &lt;/string&gt;
    &lt;!-- Example placeholder for a for a URL --&gt;
    &lt;string name="app_homeurl"&gt;
        Visit us at &lt;xliff:g id="application_homepage"&gt;http://my/app/home.html</xliff:g>;
    &lt;/string&gt;
    &lt;!-- Example placeholder for a name --&gt;
    &lt;string name="prod_name"&gt;
        Learn more at &lt;xliff:g id="prod_gamegroup"&gt;Game Group&lt;/xliff:g&gt;
    &lt;/string&gt;
    &lt;!-- Example placeholder for a literal --&gt;
    &lt;string name="promo_message"&gt;
        Please use the &lt;xliff:g id="promotion_code"&gt;ABCDEFG&lt;/xliff:g&gt; to get a discount.
    &lt;/string&gt;
    ...
&lt;/resources&gt;</pre>
<!--<pre>&lt;string name="contact_info"&gt;
    You can see our posts at &lt;xliff:g id="social_account_id"&gt;@superApp&lt;/xliff:g&gt;
&lt;/string&gt;</pre>-->

<table>
<tr>
<td><p>Related resources:</p>
<ul style="margin-top:-.5em;">
<li><strong><a href="{@docRoot}topics/resources/string-resource.html">String Resources</a></strong> &mdash; Developer guide explaining how to use string resources in your UI.</li>
<li><strong><a href="{@docRoot}design/style/writing.html">Writing Style</a></strong> &mdash; Android Design guidelines for voice and style in your UI.</li>
<li><strong><a class="external-link" href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/XLIFF">XML Localisation Interchange File Format (XLIFF)</a></strong> &mdash; Background information on XLIFF.</li>
</ul>
</td>
</tr>
</table>


<h2 id="translate">4. Translate UI strings and other resources</h2>

<p>Translating your app's UI strings and resources to your target languages is
the key phase of localization, and it's the one that requires the most care and
planning.</p>

<p>In general, it's recommended to work with a professional translator to ensure
that the work goes smoothly, stays on schedule, and results in a high-quality
product that will enhance the value of your app. If you are considering machine
translations as an alternative, keep in mind that automated translations are less
reliable than high-quality professional translations and may not produce as good an
experience for your users.</p>

<h4>Prepare for translation</h4>

<p>Getting high-quality translation output depends in part on your input. To get
ready for translation, make sure that your <code>strings.xml</code> file is well organized,
well commented, and accurate.</p>

<p>Here are some ways to prepare your strings for translation:</p>
<ul>
  <li>Make sure your strings are formatted correctly and consistently.</li>
  <li>Follow the strings recommendations listed in <a href="#strings">Manage
strings for localization</a>, above.</li>
  <li>Clean up the <code>strings.xml</code> file and remove unused strings.</li>
  <li>Place comments in the file to identify the owner, origin, and the version
of the file, as well as any special instructions for translators.</li>
<li>Identify existing translations, if any, and include those in an outgoing
zip file or other package that you will send to translators.</li>
<li>Identify drawables or other resources that require translation and include
them in the outgoing package for translators.</li>
<p>Additionally, consider translating your app's store listing details &mdash;
app title and description, release notes, and so on &mdash; as
well as other international marketing materials.</p>
<li>Create a terminology list that explains the meaning and usage of key terms
used in your product, your market, or the underlying technology. Add the list to
the outgoing package.</li>
</ul>

<h4 id="send">Send your strings for translation</h4>

<p>Early in the development cycle, contact professional translation vendors for
your target languages to get an idea of cost, lead time required, turnaround
time, and so on. Then select a vendor and secure their services, making sure to
include multiple iterations in the cost as a safeguard. Google Play can help you
do this &mdash; see <a href="#gp-trans">Purchase professional
translations</a>, below.</p>

<p>As soon as your app's UI strings and design are stable, work with your
development team to extract all of the strings and other resources from the app
and package them together for the translator. If appropriate, you can version
the outgoing package for later identification. </p>

<p>When the outgoing package is ready, send it to the translator or share it
with them over a cloud platform such as Google Drive. Keep a record of what you
sent and when you sent it, to cross-reference against returning translations and
billing invoices from the translator.</p>

<p>When your translations are complete, take a preliminary look at the
translations. Check that all files were translated, check for potential encoding
issues, and make sure that declaration formats are intact. </p>

<p>If everything looks good, carefully move the localized directories and files 
back into your app's resources. Make sure to tag the directories with the
appropriate language and locale qualifiers so that they'll later be loaded
properly.</p>

<p>After the translations are merged back into your app, start <a
href="#testing">testing the localized app</a>.</p>

<div class="sidebox-wrapper">
<div class="sidebox">
<h2>Join the translation pilot</h2>
<p>Google Play is offering translation services as part of a pilot
program. If you're interested, sign up on the APK page in your
Developer Console.</p>

<p>If you join, also try the <a
href="{@docRoot}sdk/installing/installing-adt.html#tmgr">
ADT Translation Manager Plugin</a>, which makes it easy to upload
your strings to the Developer Console and download translations
right into your project. </div>
</div>

<h4 id="gp-trans">Purchase professional translations through the
Developer Console</h4>

<p>Google Play can help you quickly find and purchase translations of your app.
In the Developer Console, you can browse a list of third-party vendors who are
pre-qualified by Google to offer high-quality translation at competitive prices.
You can upload the strings you want translated, select the languages you want to
translate into, and select your translation vendor based on time and price.</p>

<p>Once you've purchased translations, you'll receive an email from your vendor.
Your translations are a direct business agreement between you and your vendor;
you'll need to work directly with the vendor to manage the translation process and
deliverables and resolve any support issues. </p>


<h2 id="testing">5. Test your localized app</h2>

<p>Once you've received your translated strings and resources and moved them
back into your app, you need to test the app to make sure that it's ready for
distribution to your international users. </p>

<p>Manual testing can help you discover localization issues in your layouts and
strings that can affect user satisfaction and, ultimately, your app's user
rating. </p>

<h4 id="native">Set up a test environment</h4>

<p>To test your localized app, you'll need to set up an environment consisting
of multiple devices (or virtual devices) and screen sizes, based on the markets
and form factors you are targeting. Note that the range of devices in specific
regions might be different. If possible, match your test devices to the actual
devices likely to be available to users.</p>

<h4 id="native">Look for common localization issues</h4>

<p>On each test device, set the language or locale in Settings. Install and
launch the app and then navigate through all of the UI flows, dialogs, and user
interactions. Enter text in inputs. Some things to look for include:</p>

<ul>
  <li>Clipped text, or text that overlaps the edge of UI elements or the
screen</li>
  <li>Poor line wrapping</li>
  <li>Incorrect word breaks or punctuation</li>
  <li>Incorrect alphabetical sorting</li>
  <li>Incorrect layout direction or text direction</li>
  <li>Untranslated text &mdash; if your default strings are displayed instead of
translated strings, then you may have overlooked those strings for translation
or marked the resources directory with an incorrect language qualifier. </li>
</ul>

<p>For cases where your strings have expanded in translation and no longer fit
your layouts, it's recommended to simplify your default text, simplify your
translated text, or adjust your default layouts. If none of those resolves the
issue, you can create a custom layout for the language. </p>

<h4 id="default-test">Test for default resources</h4>

<p>After you've tested your app in all of your supported languages and locales,
make sure to test it again in an <em>unsupported language</em> and locale. This
will help you make sure that your app includes a full set of default strings and
resources, so that your app is usable to all users, regardless of their
preferred language. </p>

<h4 id="native">Review with native-language speakers</h4>

<p>During or after testing, it's recommended that you let native speakers review
your localized app. One way to do that is through beta testing with regional
users &mdash; Google Play can help you do this. See <a href="#beta">Plan a beta
release</a> for more information.</p>


<h2 id="prelaunch">Prepare for international launch</h2>

<p>Getting your app translated is a key part of localization, but to help your
product attract users and gain visibility, you should prepare for launch in your
target countries and create a broader launch and marketing plan for
international users. </p>


<h4 id="listing">Localize your Google Play listing</h4>

<div class="sidebox-wrapper">
<div class="sidebox">
<h2>Localize your Google Play listing</h2>
<p>Highlight what's great about your app to all of your users! Localize your
listing in the Developer Console: </p>
<ul>
  <li>App title and description</li>
  <li>App screenshots on phones and tablets</li>
  <li>Promotional graphics and videos.</li>
</ul>
</div>
</div>
<p>If you want your app to be successful in international markets, it's
essential to localize your Google Play store listing. You can manage your
localized listing in the Developer Console.</p> 

<p>Well before launch, decide on your app title, description, promotional text,
marketing names and programs, and other text and images. Send your
listing text and images for translation early, so that you have them ready when
beta testing begins. When your translated text is available, you can add it
through the Developer Console.</p>

<p>Also, since you've made the effort to create a great localized app, let users
know about it! Take screenshots of your UI in each language, for phones and 7-
and 10- inch tablets. You can upload screenshots to the Developer Console for
each language you support. These will be of great value to users browsing your
app listing in other languages. </p>

<p>It's also essential to create localized versions of your promotional graphics
and videos. For example, your app's feature graphic might include text that
should be translated, for maximum effectiveness, or you might want to take a
different visual approach in one country than you do in another. You can create
different versions of your promotional graphics for each language and upload
them to the Developer Console. If you offer a promotional video, you can create
localized versions of it and then add a link to the correct localized video for
each language you support.</p>
<h4 id="beta">Plan a beta release in key countries</h4>

<div class="sidebox-wrapper">
<div class="sidebox">
<h2>Easy beta testing</h2>
<p>Google Play now lets you set up groups of alpha and beta testers, anywhere
around the world. Check out this powerful feature next time you sign in to the
Developer Console.</p>
</div>
</div>

<p>Before launching your app, it's always valuable to get real-world feedback
from users &mdash; even more so when you are launching an app in a new language,
country, or region. In those cases, it's highly recommended that you distribute
a pre-release version of your app to users across your key markets and provide
an easy means for them to provide feedback and report bugs. </p>

<p>Google Play can help you set up a beta program for your app. After you sign
in to the Developer Console and upload your APK, you can set up groups of users
for alpha testing and beta testing the app. You can start with a small group of
alpha testers, then move to a larger group of beta testers. Once users are
added, they access your app's store listing and install the app. User feedback
from alpha and beta testers goes directly to you and is not posted as public
reviews. </p>

<p>The feedback you receive will help you adjust your UI, translations, and
store listing to ensure a great experience for users. </p>

<h4 id="beta">Plan for international marketing</h4>

<p>For highest visibility across countries, consider an international marketing
or advertising campaign. The scope of the campaign might vary based on the
budget you can support, but in general it's cost-effective and productive to do
regional or country-specific marketing at launch and after. </p>

<h4 id="badges">Create localized Google Play badges</h4>

<p>If you are preparing international marketing, make sure to include a <a
href="{@docRoot}distribute/googleplay/promote/badges.html">localized Google Play
badge</a> to tell users you're on Google Play. You can use the badge generator
to quickly build localized badges that you can use on web sites or marketing
materials. High-resolution assets are also available.</p> 

<h4 id="deviceart">Create Localized Device Art</h4>

<p>If you feature product shots of your app running on Android devices, make
sure that those shots look great and reflect the latest in Android devices. To
help you create high-quality marketing materials, use the drag-and-drop <a
href="{@docRoot}distribute/promote/device-art.html">Device Art Generator</a> to
quickly frame your screen shot on a Nexus device. </p>

<h4 id="deviceart">Check your Optimization Tips</h4>

<p>As you prepare for launch, make sure to sign into the Developer Console and check
your app's Optimization Tips. The Optimization Tips let you know when you are missing parts of your localized store listing and provide other helpful reminders for a successful localized launch.</p>

<h2 id="support">Support International Users after Launch</h2>

<p>After you launch your app internationally, you should be prepared to support
users in a variety of languages and time zones. The extent of your international
user support depends on your budget, but at a minimum you should watch your
ratings, reviews, and download stats carefully after launch. 

<p>Here are some suggestions: </p>

<ul>
  <li>Use the app stats in the Developer Console to compare your downloads,
installs, and uninstalls, and ratings across languages and countries&mdash;If
your downloads or ratings are not keeping up in specific languages or countries,
consider options for improving your product or changing your marketing approach.
</li>
  <li>Check reviews regularly&mdash;Google Play translates all user reviews for
you, so you can stay in touch with how international users feel about your app,
what features they like and what issues are affecting them. By watching reviews,
you can spot technical issues that may affect many users in a particular
country, then fix and update your app.</li>
  <li>Respond to reviews if possible&mdash;It's good to engage with
international users in their language or a common language if possible. If not,
you can try using translation tools, although results may not be predictable. If
your app gets very popular in a language, consider getting support help from
native-language speakers. </li>
  <li>Make sure there's a link to any support resources on your web site.
Consider setting up language-specific user groups, Google+ communities, or other
support forums.
</ul>

<p>By following these practices for localizing your app, promoting and marketing
to international users, and providing ongoing support, you can attract many new
users to your app and maintain their loyalty.</p>

<p>Make sure to read the <a
href="{@docRoot}distribute/googleplay/publish/preparing.html">Launch
Checklist</a> to learn more about how to plan, build, and launch your app on
Google Play. </p>