<s>
In	O
computing	O
,	O
internationalization	B-General_Concept
and	I-General_Concept
localization	I-General_Concept
(	O
American	O
)	O
or	O
internationalisation	B-General_Concept
and	I-General_Concept
localisation	I-General_Concept
(	O
British	O
English	O
)	O
,	O
often	O
abbreviated	O
i18n	B-General_Concept
and	I-General_Concept
L10n	I-General_Concept
,	O
are	O
means	O
of	O
adapting	O
computer	B-Application
software	I-Application
to	O
different	O
languages	O
,	O
regional	O
peculiarities	O
and	O
technical	O
requirements	O
of	O
a	O
target	O
locale	B-Device
.	O
</s>
<s>
Localization	O
is	O
the	O
process	O
of	O
adapting	O
internationalized	O
software	O
for	O
a	O
specific	O
region	O
or	O
language	O
by	O
translating	O
text	O
and	O
adding	O
locale-specific	O
components	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
Localization	O
(	O
which	O
is	O
potentially	O
performed	O
multiple	O
times	O
,	O
for	O
different	O
locales	B-Device
)	O
uses	O
the	O
infrastructure	O
or	O
flexibility	O
provided	O
by	O
internationalization	O
(	O
which	O
is	O
ideally	O
performed	O
only	O
once	O
before	O
localization	O
,	O
or	O
as	O
an	O
integral	O
part	O
of	O
ongoing	O
development	O
)	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
The	O
terms	O
are	O
frequently	O
abbreviated	O
to	O
the	O
numeronyms	O
i18n	B-General_Concept
(	O
where	O
18	O
stands	O
for	O
the	O
number	O
of	O
letters	O
between	O
the	O
first	O
i	O
and	O
the	O
last	O
n	O
in	O
the	O
word	O
internationalization	O
,	O
a	O
usage	O
coined	O
at	O
Digital	O
Equipment	O
Corporation	O
in	O
the	O
1970s	O
or	O
1980s	O
)	O
and	O
L10n	O
for	O
localization	O
,	O
due	O
to	O
the	O
length	O
of	O
the	O
words	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
Some	O
companies	O
,	O
like	O
IBM	O
and	O
Oracle	B-Application
,	O
use	O
the	O
term	O
globalization	O
,	O
g11n	B-General_Concept
,	O
for	O
the	O
combination	O
of	O
internationalization	B-General_Concept
and	I-General_Concept
localization	I-General_Concept
.	O
</s>
<s>
World-readiness	O
is	O
a	O
developer	O
task	O
,	O
which	O
enables	O
a	O
product	O
to	O
be	O
used	O
with	O
multiple	O
scripts	O
and	O
cultures	O
(	O
globalization	O
)	O
and	O
separating	O
user	O
interface	O
resources	O
in	O
a	O
localizable	O
format	O
(	O
localizability	B-General_Concept
,	O
abbreviated	O
to	O
L12y	B-General_Concept
)	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
Hewlett-Packard	O
and	O
HP-UX	B-Application
created	O
a	O
system	O
called	O
"	O
National	B-General_Concept
Language	I-General_Concept
Support	I-General_Concept
"	O
or	O
"	O
Native	B-General_Concept
Language	I-General_Concept
Support	I-General_Concept
"	O
(	O
NLS	O
)	O
to	O
produce	O
localizable	O
software	B-Application
.	I-Application
</s>
<s>
Computer	B-Application
software	I-Application
can	O
encounter	O
differences	O
above	O
and	O
beyond	O
straightforward	O
translation	O
of	O
words	O
and	O
phrases	O
,	O
because	O
computer	O
programs	O
can	O
generate	O
content	O
dynamically	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
The	O
Common	O
Locale	B-Device
Data	O
Repository	O
by	O
Unicode	O
provides	O
a	O
collection	O
of	O
such	O
differences	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
Its	O
data	O
is	O
used	O
by	O
major	O
operating	B-General_Concept
systems	I-General_Concept
,	O
including	O
Microsoft	B-Application
Windows	I-Application
,	O
macOS	B-Application
and	O
Debian	O
,	O
and	O
by	O
major	O
Internet	O
companies	O
or	O
projects	O
such	O
as	O
Google	B-Application
and	O
the	O
Wikimedia	O
Foundation	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
Modern	O
systems	O
use	O
the	O
Unicode	O
standard	O
to	O
represent	O
many	O
different	O
languages	O
with	O
a	O
single	O
character	B-General_Concept
encoding	I-General_Concept
.	O
</s>
<s>
Time	B-Device
zones	I-Device
vary	O
across	O
the	O
world	O
,	O
and	O
this	O
must	O
be	O
taken	O
into	O
account	O
if	O
a	O
product	O
originally	O
only	O
interacted	O
with	O
people	O
in	O
a	O
single	O
time	B-Device
zone	I-Device
.	O
</s>
<s>
For	O
internationalization	O
,	O
UTC	O
is	O
often	O
used	O
internally	O
and	O
then	O
converted	O
into	O
a	O
local	O
time	B-Device
zone	I-Device
for	O
display	O
purposes	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
In	O
order	O
to	O
internationalize	B-General_Concept
a	O
product	O
,	O
it	O
is	O
important	O
to	O
look	O
at	O
a	O
variety	O
of	O
markets	O
that	O
the	O
product	O
will	O
foreseeably	O
enter	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
Already	O
in	O
the	O
1990s	O
,	O
companies	O
such	O
as	O
Bull	O
used	O
machine	B-Application
translation	I-Application
(	O
Systran	B-General_Concept
)	O
in	O
large	O
scale	O
,	O
for	O
all	O
their	O
translation	O
activity	O
:	O
human	O
translators	O
handled	O
pre-editing	O
(	O
making	O
the	O
input	O
machine-readable	O
)	O
and	O
post-editing	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
Both	O
in	O
re-engineering	O
an	O
existing	O
software	O
or	O
designing	O
a	O
new	O
internationalized	O
software	O
,	O
the	O
first	O
step	O
of	O
internationalization	O
is	O
to	O
split	O
each	O
potentially	O
locale-dependent	O
part	O
(	O
whether	O
code	O
,	O
text	O
or	O
data	O
)	O
into	O
a	O
separate	O
module	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
Each	O
module	O
can	O
then	O
either	O
rely	O
on	O
a	O
standard	O
library/dependency	O
or	O
be	O
independently	O
replaced	O
as	O
needed	O
for	O
each	O
locale	B-Device
.	O
</s>
<s>
Programs	O
are	O
often	O
built	O
to	O
reference	O
resource	O
libraries	O
depending	O
on	O
the	O
selected	O
locale	B-Device
data	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
One	O
software	B-Library
library	I-Library
and	O
format	O
that	O
aids	O
this	O
is	O
gettext	B-Application
.	O
</s>
<s>
The	O
code	O
required	O
to	O
manage	O
data	O
entry	O
verification	O
and	O
many	O
other	O
locale-sensitive	O
data	O
types	O
also	O
must	O
support	O
differing	O
locale	B-Device
requirements	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
Modern	O
development	O
systems	O
and	O
operating	B-General_Concept
systems	I-General_Concept
include	O
sophisticated	O
libraries	O
for	O
international	O
support	O
of	O
these	O
types	O
,	O
see	O
also	O
Standard	O
locale	B-Device
data	O
above	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
writing	O
direction	O
,	O
text	O
sorting	O
)	O
require	O
more	O
profound	O
changes	O
in	O
the	B-Application
software	I-Application
than	O
text	O
translation	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
For	O
example	O
,	O
OpenOffice.org	B-Application
achieves	O
this	O
with	O
compilation	O
switches	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
Once	O
properly	O
internationalized	O
,	O
software	O
can	O
rely	O
on	O
more	O
decentralized	O
models	O
for	O
localization	O
:	O
free	B-Application
and	I-Application
open	I-Application
source	I-Application
software	I-Application
usually	O
rely	O
on	O
self-localization	O
by	O
end-users	O
and	O
volunteers	O
,	O
sometimes	O
organized	O
in	O
teams	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
The	O
KDE3	B-Language
project	O
,	O
for	O
example	O
,	O
has	O
been	O
translated	O
into	O
over	O
100	O
languages	O
;	O
MediaWiki	B-Application
in	O
270	O
languages	O
,	O
of	O
which	O
100	O
mostly	O
complete	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
In	O
the	O
early	O
1980s	O
,	O
Lotus	B-Application
1-2-3	I-Application
took	O
two	O
years	O
to	O
separate	O
program	O
code	O
and	O
text	O
and	O
lost	O
the	O
market	O
lead	O
in	O
Europe	O
over	O
Microsoft	B-Device
Multiplan	I-Device
.	O
</s>
<s>
MicroPro	B-Application
found	O
that	O
using	O
an	O
Austrian	O
translator	O
for	O
the	O
West	O
German	O
market	O
caused	O
its	O
WordStar	B-Application
documentation	O
to	O
,	O
an	O
executive	O
said	O
,	O
not	O
"	O
have	O
the	O
tone	O
it	O
should	O
have	O
had	O
"	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
Even	O
where	O
large	O
language	O
populations	O
could	O
justify	O
localization	O
for	O
a	O
given	O
product	O
,	O
and	O
a	O
product	O
's	O
internal	O
structure	O
already	O
permits	O
localization	O
,	O
a	O
given	O
software	O
developer	O
or	O
publisher	O
may	O
lack	O
the	O
size	O
and	O
sophistication	O
to	O
manage	O
the	O
ancillary	O
functions	O
associated	O
with	O
operating	O
in	O
multiple	O
locales	B-Device
.	O
</s>
