Defined as the process of planning and implementing products and services so that they can easily be adapted to specific local languages and cultures, internationalization is primarily language independent, however it can have a serious impact on the localization activities that take place afterwards. For instance:

• If the application has not been enabled to handle double-byte character sets, the software will not display Japanese or Chinese characters correctly.
• If the application is not designed with text expansion in mind (User Interface (UI) design and text buffer), localized strings which expand 25%-50% look awkward or cropped in the UI.
• Application and help systems containing address/telephone information will cause errors if it has not been designed to handle international address formats.
• The application code must be designed to handle multiple date, time, currency, measurement, and number formats.
• The application does not account for locale-specific sorting.
• The application does not allow for locale-specific string validation/parsing.

These are just some of the many internationalization issues that can potentially delay your multilingual product release, thus, causing you to miss out on potential revenue and Return on Investment. Internationalization of your product ensures:

• Faster time to market
• Top and bottom line impacts
• Reduced project risk
• Higher quality
• Simpler subsequent localization