/localisation

name: localisation
description: Use when the product ships in more than one locale, or when a string, date, number, currency or layout could differ by region — by ux-architect when the locale set changes navigation, by privacy-reviewer when region determines obligation, and by any IC writing a user-visible string. Triggers on the first string, not on the first translation.

Localisation

Localisation is an architecture decision taken at the first string, and a translation task only at the end. Teams that reverse the order pay for it twice.

Where a platform skill exists, use it: `axiom-localization` on Apple platforms. **External and optional** — missing → follow this file, never file its absence as a defect.

Do this from the first ticket, in every locale count including one

• **Every user-visible string is a key in the catalogue.** No string literal in a view, ever. This

is cheap now and a full re-read of the codebase later.

• **Never concatenate a sentence from fragments.** Word order differs by language. Use one

parameterised string per sentence.

• **Plurals use the platform's plural rules**, not `if count == 1`. Several languages have more than

two plural forms and `1 items` is the cheapest possible way to look unfinished.

• **Dates, times, numbers, currencies and units go through the locale-aware formatter.** A

hand-formatted date is wrong in most of the world, silently.

• **Never sort or compare user-facing text with byte comparison.** Use the locale-aware collator.

Layout

• **Assume text grows 30–40%** from English. A button that fits exactly is a button that clips.
• **RTL is a layout mode, not a translation.** Use leading/trailing, never left/right; mirror

directional icons (back, next, progress) and never mirror ones with real-world orientation (a clock, a logo, a play button).

• Test at the longest supported locale and the largest Dynamic Type together — that combination is

where clipping actually happens.

Region is not language

Region determines: currency and price tier, legal and privacy obligation (`privacy-reviewer`), store metadata and rating, available payment methods, and sometimes whether a feature may ship at all. **A locale added to the catalogue is a market entered.** Say so explicitly rather than letting a translation file imply it.

Output

The locale set and its consequences are stated in `docs/12-flows.md` (navigation and layout impact) and in `docs/15-aso.md` (store metadata per locale). Pseudo-localise before you have translations — it finds hardcoded strings and clipping without waiting for a translator.