How do you test your app for Iñtërnâtiônàlizætiøn? (Internationalization?)

Question

How do you test your app for Iñtërnâtiônàlizætiøn compliance? I tell people to store the Unicode string Iñtërnâtiônàlizætiøn into each field and then see if it is displayed correctly on output.

--- including output as a cell's content in Excel reports, in rtf format for docs, xml files, etc.

What other tests should be done?

Added idea from @Paddy:

Also try a right-to-left language. Eg, שלום ירושלים ([The] Peace of Jerusalem). Should look like:

_{(source: kluger.com)}

Note: Stackoverflow is implemented correctly. If text does not match the image, then you have a problem with your browser, os, or possibly a proxy.

Also note: You should not have to change or "setup" your already running app to accept either the W European characters or the Hebrew example. You should be able to just type those characters into your app and have them come back correctly in your output. In case you don't have a Hebrew keyboard laying around, copy and paste the the examples from this question into your app.

Answer 1

Pick a culture where the text reads from right to left and set your system up for that - make sure that it reads properly (easier said than done...).

Answer 2

Use one of the three "pseudo-locales" available since Windows Vista:

The three different pseudo-locale are for testing 3 kinds of locales:

Base The qps-ploc locale is used for English-like pseudo localizations. Its strings are longer versions of English strings, using non-Latin and accented characters instead of the normal script. Additionally simple Latin strings should sort in reverse order with this locale.

Mirrored qpa-mirr is used for right-to-left pseudo data, which is another area of interest for testing.

East Asian qps-asia is intended to utilize the large CJK character repertoire, which is also useful for testing.

Windows will start formatting dates, times, numbers, currencies in a made-up psuedo-locale that looks enough like english that you can work with it, but obvious enough when you're not respecting the locale:

[Шěđлеśđαỳ !!!], 8 ōf [Μäŕςћ !!] ōf 2006