Chapter 22. Internationalization and Localization

Internationalization and localization are two sides of the same coin. Internationalization is the process of developing software so that it can be used in a variety of locations. Localization is the process of modifying an application for use in a specific location. When you internationalize software, you are making it portable; when you localize software, you are actually performing a port.

In the PostgreSQL world, the topics of internationalization and localization are concerned with the following:

• Viewing PostgreSQL-generated messages in the language of your choice

• Viewing PostgreSQL-generated messages in the character set of your choice

• Viewing user data in the character set of your choice

• Producing the correct results when PostgreSQL returns data in sorted order

• Producing the correct results when PostgreSQL needs to classify characters into categories such as uppercase, punctuation, and so on

We can separate these issues into two broad categories: locales and character sets.