Considerations when switching the base language

When switching the base language there are some points to consider.

The following points must be taken into consideration prior to performing a base language switch:

• Multiple "from" strings in a language may translate to the same "to" string in another language. During the switch, only one of these records is retained, and ambiguous records are removed.

  For example, ABC and AAC in English may both translate to FABC in French. When the base language is switched from English to French, only one record with a "from" string of FABC is retained.

• When the base locale is switched from en_US to any other locale (for example, fr_FR) and the yfs.install.localecode property is set to the new base locale, you must append en_US to all out-of-the-box English property files if you want the UI to display for the English user’s locale. To determine the names of the out-of-the-box property files that you need to update with en_US, refer to all files in your language pack. These files have identical names to the files that you need to update, except they have your specific locale (such as fr_FR) appended to each file name.
• If a locale does not provide a translation, Sterling™ Order Management System Software reverts to the base language.

  For example, there are three locales, en_US, en_GB, and fr_FR. Currently en_US is the base language. fr_FR has full translations, but en_GB only has a few translations, such as color to color. If the en_GB locale is used and the en_GB translation for apple does not exist, Sterling Order Management System Software reverts to the en_US translation of apple.

  When the base language is switched to French, it becomes the fallback language. So, if the en_GB translation of apple does not exist, Sterling Order Management System Software falls back on the fr_FR translation, pomme.

  It is recommended that all translations be provided for all locales.

  Note: When you switch the base language, the translated values may exceed the database column size, depending on the database character set (UTF-8, AL16UTF16 or any other) used. To correct the problem, adjust the translated characters to fit the database column. It is recommended that you use a character set that is appropriate to your localization requirements.