Adding Multi-Language Support to an Application Program

[renardanderson]

My application program currently only supports English, but I want to add support for several other languages, including Spanish, French, Chinese, and Russian. I want the default language to be English, but the user can change it in the Preference window. In the past, I have used an Excel file with columns for each language and rows for the text strings used in menus, labels, and message boxes in a VB6 application. I am unsure if this approach is still reasonable in a .NET environment. Can anyone provide some ideas or suggestions for implementing multi-language support in my application program?

 

[jmcilhinney]

Globalisation and localisation are built into .NET. Globalisation is making your program able to support multiple languages and localisation is making it support a specific language. You should read up on those two topics.

Globalize and localize .NET applications - .NET

Learn how to develop a world-ready application. Read about globalization, localizability review, and localization in .NET.

learn.microsoft.com

Multi-language support is achieved using resources. You create resources in your application with values in your default language. You can then add a satellite assembly - a DLL containing nothing but resources - with the same set of resource names with values in a different language. The assembly is named based on the culture of the resources. You should also read up on satellite assemblies.

 

[renardanderson]

Globalisation and localisation are built into .NET. Globalisation is making your program able to support multiple languages and localisation is making it support a specific language. You should read up on those two topics.

Multi-language support is achieved using resources. You create resources in your application with values in your default language. You can then add a satellite assembly - a DLL containing nothing but resources - with the same set of resource names with values in a different language. The assembly is named based on the culture of the resources. You should also read up on satellite assemblies.

thanks