Internationalization (i18n)
Internationalization (i18n) is the design and engineering process of ensuring a product or website can be adapted to various languages and regions without requiring code changes. It involves abstracting text strings, enabling variable date formats, and supporting Unicode for special characters.
Building the Foundation for Localization
You can't translate a site if the code doesn't support it. i18n is the "prep work"—building the house frame before painting walls. Hardcoded text like <p>Hello World</p> is impossible to translate without editing source code. Internationalized code uses variables: <p>{greeting_text}</p> that can be swapped for any language. Similarly, databases must support UTF-8 encoding to store Chinese characters, UI layouts must flex to accommodate German text (30% longer than English), and date systems must handle DD/MM/YYYY vs. MM/DD/YYYY. i18n happens once during development; localization happens repeatedly for each new market.
Hardcoded vs. Internationalized (i18n)
Real-World Impact
SaaS app has English text hardcoded in 500+ React components
Launching French version requires editing 500 files
6 months development, $200K cost, high bug risk
App built with i18n from day 1, all text in language files
French launch requires one new fr.json translation file
2 weeks, $15K cost, zero code changes