Replacement fields inside a multi-language application - localization

Question

I am developing a project which supports multiple languages. One of the functions we have is to support replacement parameters.
Here is simplified example of what i mean:
A string "{CUSTNAME} has 10 customers" is defined somewhere. It includes one parameter {CUSTNAME}, which will be defined within the hierarchy where this string will be used. When the item with this string is opened up, the {CUSTNAME} resolves to its defined value.
Since in some languages, a single word or a phrase can actually change the previous or the following character(s) in the sentence, how do I implemented the replacement field functionality in that situation?

Answer 1

You'll need to do a few things.
(1). Set up some functions that return different translations based on the quantity and the rules of that language.
Aside from your customer name replacement the part that says 10 customers will also need some replacement and will need to be built with a function call that looks more like:
ngettext( 'customer', 'customers', 10 )
This is along the lines of how Gettext works.
(2). Set up your translation source strings such that they're aware of pluralization rules.
You haven't said what technology you're working with, but Gettext has this built in and many languages including PHP can interact with your system Gettext.
(3). Organize your text replacement into two stages. Possibly using sprintf instead of your token replacement, but that part is up to you.
Because you're using stored translations plus your own customer name replacement I'd do as follows:
Set up translation strings with your full template in each language, perhaps like this in a Gettext PO file:
# ....
msgid "%1$s has one customer"
msgid_plural "%1$s has %2$u customers"
msgstr[0] "%1$s a un client"
msgstr[1] "%2$u clients pour %1$s"
You would then fetch the required template based on quantity and perform your replacement afterwards. for example in PHP:
$n = 10;
$name = "Pierre";
$template = ngettext( '%1$s has one customer', '%1$s has %2$u customers', $n );
$rendered = sprintf( $template, $name, $n );
There are lots of gotchas here, and not all language pack formats support plurals. If you can't use Gettext in your system then have a look at Loco as a way to manage the rules of plurals and export to a file format you can work with.