Lessons From Linguistics: i18n Best Practices for Front-End Developers - Shopify

This post details lessons learned from linguistics for front-end developers regarding internationalization (i18n). It highlights common pitfalls in translating English-centric code, such as incorrect handling of punctuation, word order, pluralization rules (including zero, singular, dual, paucal, and other forms), gendered nouns and their impact on articles and adjectives, and complex declension systems. It uses examples like the 'Added:' date string and a status bar component to illustrate these challenges. The post advocates for a holistic approach to translation that considers the grammatical structure of target languages rather than relying solely on simple string interpolation.