7 - Some Guidelines

• Allow more text space for non-English text - general estimates are about 50% more.
• Write text that is easier to translate - simple words and concepts are best.
• Be aware of culture-related items. For instance, the stop sign is different in various countries, and may not be useful for that reason as an icon.
• The same applies for language - a classic example of this is the 'Nova', which in Spanish translates to 'no go' - not a good name for an automobile!
• Avoid puns, double meanings, and other word play, as it rarely (if ever) translates well.
• In English, various words can be used as both nouns and verbs - in other languages, these are often different words, and need to be translated as such.
• Watch out for string handling - sorting, printing, and editing may change with different languages. One example in English is to use a sprintf to pluralize values:
  

    sprintf(buff,"%d item%s", count, ( 1==count ? "" : "s" ) );

  Converting a rule like this into another language can be problematic, and requires care to get it right.
• Make use of built in classes for ease of localization. For instance, CTimeEdit adjusts for the language and time format, avoiding the need to code specific solutions.
• Benefit from others' work. Besides the GUI_PACKAGE_NAME, you can also look up and reuse a number of pre-defined words and phrases in the OS package, making the translation effort much easier. The complete list of #defines is found at /franklin/SDK/sneak32/include/gui_pkg.h