I'm writing this question because a lot of information on Stackoverflow (and even Apple's developer website) about this topic is unfortunately partially outdated:
I want to support multiple languages in my Xcode 12.5/Swift 5/iOS 12.3+ app: German as the default language and English as a "fallback".
Currently the "Info" tab lists two "Localization" languages:
The "Localization" section of the File Inspector for both my Main.storyboard and LaunchScreen.storyboard file look like this (by default):
"Base" is checked and that's why the first screenshot shows 2 files for it.
The language in Info.plist is set to the following:
So far I haven't touched the actual localization settings yet and I've been using the same language for every label,... in XIB (which is probably saved in "Base").
According to Apple's old Localization Guide, "Base" is the default language that is used, as long as it's included in the user's language settings (so in my case: German). The "Developer Language" is the "fallback" language that is used if the user's language settings don't include the base language (in my case: English). This Q&A page also says:
If you adopt Base Localization, make sure that the value of
CFBundleDevelopmentRegion matches the language used by your content in
the Base.lproj folder.
... and in this guide enabling the base localization for "English - Development Language" for both storyboards adds 2 localized files to it, without actually adding another ("Base") localization to the list. As you can see on my first screenshot, "Base" and "Development" are separate list entries, which wasn't the case in earlier Xcode versions.
My first question is: Did I understand all of this correctly? It's a bit confusing that the quote sees "Base" and "Development Language" as the same thing, even though you can of course have a default language that isn't the "fallback" language.
The same Q&A I linked above also goes into detail about regional versions of a specific language:
If my app supports "German" (language code: "de") but the user's language settings only list e.g. Austrian German ("de_AT"), then the app is still going to set its own language to German. Let's say I want to use Swiss German (de_CH) as the default language but the user only picked Austrian German ("de_AT") in his settings, does this still work the same way? Should you rather set your app's default language to the regular non-regional language (German = "de") instead, even if the labels,... use e.g. Swiss German words?
How do I change the "Base" language to German (let's say, "de_CH") and also make it appear as that in the list, while using English ("en") as the "fallback"? I did find a similar question but unfortunately the steps described in the answer don't work the same way in Xcode 12.5. anymore.
What I wanted to achieve:
Support English but use German as the default language that is also used if the user's language settings don't include English or German.
How I achieved this in Xcode 12.5:
Add "German (de)" to the "Localizations" list via the little "+" button. In the new Choose files and reference language to create German localization pop-up every storyboard file should already be ticked by default. This adds .strings (German) localization files for all storyboards in the Project Navigator on the left:
In Main.storyboard's File Inspector tick the "English" box in the "Localization" section (this might take a while). This adds an additional Main.strings (English) file in the Project Navigator. Repeat this step for each storyboard, including the launch screen.
To change the "Development Language", which is the language the app uses by default and also if it doesn't support any of the languages the user set in their device's language settings, close Xcode, then open the project's .xcodeproj file with a text editor (I used BBEdit, which is free). There should be a list of files, including project.pbxproj. Open it and set developmentRegion (= development language) to the language code of the language that you added in step 1, so in my case "de". Do not use a different code (e.g. add "German (de)" but set it to "de_CH") because that's going to create an additional localization.
There are now two ways to finish this part of localization:
A. Leave it as is. Changes in storyboard aren't going to affect any of the .strings files. Advantage: The text can be edited directly (without using storyboard), which is useful if you aren't the person who's working on the translations. Disadvantage: You can't quickly see and test the changes to a translation in storyboard but have to run the app in the simulator or on an actual device.
B. Use the default language as "Base" language: Untick "German" for every storyboard and hit "Remove" in the pop-up, which removes the localizations in the list. This way changes to the storyboard affect the default language, which makes it easier to test changes.
I used version B:
Important:
These .strings files are only used for storyboards! If you also want to set localized text at runtime using NSLocalizedString (e.g. for an error dialog), then you have to add an additional Localizable.strings file (more details here):
File - New - File - Strings File - Call it Localizable.strings
Click "Localize" in its File Inspector and pick one of the languages you want to use in code.
Afterwards, also in the File Inspector, you can tick the other languages in the "Localization" section (including the development one).
Bonus infos:
You can change the app language of the simulator through the scheme:
Product - Scheme - Edit Scheme - Run (left side) - Options tab (right side) - App Language
You can also show a preview of the currently selected UIViewController and change its displayed language without starting a simulator:
Editor - Preview - In the new preview window on the right there's a button in the bottom right
Disclaimer: I found this solution by testing different things, as there's currently no tutorial for this (using the latest Xcode version). If this is not the "right" way to do localization, please post your own answer and I'll check it out.
Related
I'm trying to account for both English and Georgian and an app I'm developing. I had added the localization language to the project, have all the storyboard languages setup and the strings files.
I now want to test to see if the text translates correctly.
However, when I go to Edit Scheme and find the application language drop down it doesn't have Georgian.
When I added the localization in the project settings I could go to a More menu that had LOADS of languages. Why does this not exist in the Application Language drop down in the scheme settings?
EDIT:
Tried the solution below by adding language and locale as arguments:
I have what I believe is the correct setup for translating strings depending on the language of the phone etc.
The Xcode scheme Debug options only include a subset of languages plus pseudolanguages for testing. However, there are workarounds.
If you want to see if text translates correctly, do one of the following:
Go to your scheme's Arguments tab and add the AppleLanguages and AppleLocale to the "Arguments Passed On Launch" section.
For example, to select the Georgian language and the Georgian region, you'd add:
-AppleLanguages "(ka-GE)"
-AppleLocale "GEO"
or:
On the device or simulator, set the region and language in the device's Preferences and then run your app.
More here: Internationalization and Localization Guide
Note that the ISO language code for Georgia is "ka-GE", not "ge". You should have "ka-GE.lproj" as your localization folder name.
The language code comes from the ISO codes here: ISO 639-2 codes, and the region code comes from these: ISO_3166-2 codes
One other thing I just noticed is that your string translation files are called "Localize.strings". The default filename is "Localizable.strings" and if you're calling NSLocalizedString without providing an explicit file name in the optional table parameter, that's what iOS looks for. So, you'll probably need to rename your translation files for things to work.
I have such problem:
I have localized my app for two languages - English and Polish, with English being set as the Base one.
I set developmentRegion to "en" (also tried "English") in both info.plist and project.pbxproj files.
My translated texts are contained within localized Main.strings and Localizable.strings files.
So everything should be fine, yet when I set any language other than Polish or English the app does not fall back to the Base (English) one, instead stays on the last used, supported language. (i.e. Polish if I recently changed from Polish to lets say French).
Can anyone help me ?
Ok I see now. I thought that whatever unsupported language I would set in system settings, my app would always revert to English (Base).
That's not true.
When selected language is not supported then the app is taking the language that is the highest on "Preferred languages" list in system settings. Only if none of these preferred languages is supported, then the base one is selected.
I have an App which is nearly done and I only need to add localizations to it. The problem is that I have written it completely in German (because I am from Germany) and I don't have changed the development language. That means xCode thinks that everything I have done is written in English and not in German:
I have tried to set the CFBundleDevelopmentRegion to German and also to set the Localization native development region (in target) to german but nothing worked.
So my basic question is: I have an app written in German and how can I add an English and maybe other language support?
I was fighting with this for a long time but finally I think I found a solution for Xcode 7.
In general If you're developing language is different than English you have to make 2 things. After you create a new project in Xcode 7 quit Xcode and go to the terminal.
Edit the file in your project folder with your favorite text editor:
vi <your_project_name>.xcodeproj/project.pbxproj
Search for the key: knownRegions.
You should find something similar to:
knownRegions = (
pl,
Base,
);
Put your development language code on the first position. In general position is not important but I prefer that my native language be first. In Your case put there de. By default the first language in new project is en.
Next you should look for developmentRegion (in the same file) and change its value to “Polish" or whatever language you are using. In your case "Germany". What I noticed this makes Xcode to notice that your Development Language changes from English (default) to your language. After those changes save and exit text editor. Start the Xcode and point your eyes to Project -> Info tab. You should see something similar to this with Your native language set as Development Language.
Now open Info.plist. Edit the CFBundleDevelopmentRegion key and set its value to pl or de in your case.
Thats all. Now Your Base.lproj can contain resources in your native language. If you want a new Language just add it as usual.
Let me know if it working for you. I don't know how this little trick change your current project with existing translations but this is good point if you're starting new project.
I am developing an iOS app targeted almost exclusively at a Japanese audience, with the possibility of a small portion of english-speaking users.
All storyboards and xibs are being designed with Japanese strings, and localization into English should take place at a later stage.
From the beginning, the Project's Info/Localizations section in Xcode reads:
(The two files are, of course, "Main.storyboard" and "LaunchScreen.xib")
Because "English" is already added (as the development language), I can not click the "+" button and add it as a localization. I could add 'Japanese' instead, but I want it to be the Development Language, not just some (secondary) localization.
Also, and in an apparent contradiction with the above, The Target's Info.plist file reads:
When I select either of the localized files (Main.storyboard and LaunchScreen.xib) in the Project Navigator, and check the file inspector, the 'Localization' section reads:
...which seems to suggest that the existing, Japanese files (.xib and .storyboard) are the 'Base' and checking 'English' will add support for that language too (The pull-down menu seems to indicate that I can chose between using a strings file or a dedicated duplicate of the storyboard. I am inclined to believe the strings approach is better).
...So, how should I proceed?
A. Check the 'English' box in the File inspector / Localization section?
This creates an en.lproj folder and adds a strings file inside it that I should translate later, I guess. This effectively seems to treat my existing Interface Builder files (populated with Japanese labels) as 'Base', and provide for localization into English through the strings file created (if I understand correctly). However, English as the Development Language in the Project settings remains somehow unsettling...
B. Remove English and instead add Japanese in the Project/Info/Localizations pane?
This will make Japanese the Development Language, and I can re-add English as a localization afterwards. But for some reason, if I do this Japanese will not be treated as 'Base' language, and (unnecessary) string files will be also added for Japanese, not just for English.
EDIT: I found this question, which somehow provides a 'fix' for the option B above.
OK, this is what I settled for (but I will still accept better/smarter answers):
I did as suggested by the question I mentioned before, and edited the Xcode project file to force Japanese as the "Development Language":
developmentRegion = English;
hasScannedForEncodings = 0;
knownRegions = (
en,
Base,
);
becomes:
developmentRegion = Japanese;
hasScannedForEncodings = 0;
knownRegions = (
en,
ja,
Base,
Next, for the storyboards/xibs I want to localize, I will check the 'English' checkbox in the File inspector/Localization:
...and that will create my string files for English localization (Notice the 'Japanese' checkbox below 'English'. I'd rather it not be there at all, because the Base xibs/storyboards already have Japanese text labels by default, but I can just leave it unchecked).
Now, the Project's Info pane, 'Localizations' section looks like this:
ADDENDUM: Now that I think of it, with things setup like this, if someone ever launches this app on (say) an iPhone set to French, the app will fall back to Japanese (not English). This is probably not ideal, since the default language for non-Japanese speakers should be English, not the other way around.
However, I can not afford to design my xibs with English text and translate them to Japanese afterwards.
How do you change the default language used by your project without doing localization?
What if I want my app to be in Japanese or Italian? Is it enough to just use Japanese or Italian texts? How do I change the language displayed on iTunes to say that it's in Japanese or Italian?
Generally, the resources that you put in the main folder are assumed to be in the Default language, which is set in iTunes Connect when you add or edit the application. The setting is on the Application page and if it's not correctly set after adding it, click the Edit at the top of the page to be able to change it with the drop-down menu.
If you're going to localize at all, you'll want to make sure to change the localization native language, you'll need to change the key in the Info.plist corresponding to Localization native development region (a.k.a. CFBundleDevelopmentRegion in raw form) to match the language you are using for the raw files. The value of the tag should match the original localization language directory base (so en if you have an english lproj directory named en.lproj). This language will be used in the event that one of the other localizations is missing for the specific resource. Recommendations these days point to using the 2-letter version of the language (i.e. en instead of English, jp instead of Japanese, etc) as best-practice.
If you're building a Japanese-only app, you could just put all the resources in the top level. If you're going to have Japanese and any other language, you should put the language-specific Japanese resources in jp.lproj and set the CFBundleDevelopmentRegion to jp. Any unlocalized resources (standard images, etc.) can be stored in the main application folder.
By the way, same general rules in OS X as well, except that wherever I mentioned "main application folder" above, the files would be within the Resources folder.