Swift Localization: Taking Your App Global with Internationalization

In the age of tech and digital innovation, mobile applications are becoming increasingly important. They provide users with easy and quick access to information, services, and products from anywhere in the world. This means that as a developer, you must ensure that your app is available to all users around the globe. To do this, you need to localize your app for different languages and cultures.

Localization, or internationalization, is the process of adapting your app for different language and cultural contexts. It involves translating the text, adjusting the layout, and changing the design elements to fit the target audience’s preferences. Swift is a powerful programming language that allows developers to easily localize their apps for different regions. In this article, we’ll discuss how to use Swift to localize your app for different languages and cultures.

Swift makes it easy to localize your app for different languages by using the “Localizable.strings” file. This file is used to store all the strings in your app that need to be localized. It contains key-value pairs that map text and images to their corresponding translations. To use the file, you need to add the “Localizable.strings” file to your project. Then, you can add the translated strings and images to the file.

Next, you need to create a “Localization” folder in your project. This folder will contain the localized versions of your app’s strings and images. You can create separate folders for each language you want to support. For example, if you want to support English, French, and German, you would create three folders: “en.lproj”, “fr.lproj”, and “de.lproj”. Within each folder, you would add the corresponding “Localizable.strings” file.

Once you have added the localized strings and images to your project, you can start localizing your app. To do this, you need to create a “Localized.swift” file. This file will contain functions that allow you to access the localized strings and images in your app. Here is an example of a “Localized.swift” file:

import Foundation

class Localized {
    static var shared = Localized()

    private let bundle: Bundle

    init(bundle: Bundle = .main) {
        self.bundle = bundle
    }

    func string(for key: String) -> String? {
        return bundle.localizedString(forKey: key, value: nil, table: nil)
    }

    func image(for name: String) -> UIImage? {
        let imagePath = bundle.path(forResource: name, ofType: "png")
        guard let path = imagePath else {
            return nil
        }
        return UIImage(contentsOfFile: path)
    }
}

The “Localized.swift” file contains two functions: “string” and “image”. The “string” function takes a key (i.e. the string’s identifier) as its parameter and returns the localized string. The “image” function takes the name of an image as its parameter and returns the localized version of the image.

You can use these functions in your code to access the localized strings and images. For example, if you want to display the localized version of a string, you can use the “string” function like this:

let localizedString = Localized.shared.string(for: "welcome_message")
label.text = localizedString

Similarly, if you want to display the localized version of an image, you can use the “image” function like this:

let localizedImage = Localized.shared.image(for: "logo")
imageView.image = localizedImage

Using Swift’s localization features, you can quickly and easily localize your app for different languages and cultures. This will ensure that your app is accessible to users all over the world.

In conclusion, localization is an important process for ensuring that your app is available to users around the world. Swift makes it easy to localize your app for different languages and cultures. By using the “Localizable.strings” file and the “Localized.swift” file, you can quickly and easily localize your app for different languages and cultures.