Internationalization

Internationalization is a complex problem. Qwik does not solve the internationalization problem directly instead it only provides low-level APIs to allow other libraries to solve it.

Runtime vs compile time translation

At a high level there are two ways in which the translation problem can be solved:

• Runtime: load a translation map and look up the translations at runtime.
• Compile time: Have a compile step inline the translations into the output string.

Both of the above approaches have trade-offs that one should take into consideration.

The advantages of runtime approaches are:

• Simplicity. Does not require an additional build step.

Disadvantages of the runtime approach are:

• Each string is present in triplicate:
  1. Once as the original string in the code.
  2. Once as a key in a translation map.
  3. Once as a translated value in the translation map.
• The tools currently lack the capability to break up the translation map. The whole translation map must be loaded eagerly on application startup. This is a less than ideal situation because it works against Qwik's effort to break up and lazy load your codebase. Additionally, because translation maps are not broken up, the browser will download unnecessary translations. For example, translations for static components that will never re-render on the client.
• There is a runtime cost to translation lookups.

The advantages of compile-time approaches are:

• Qwik's lazy loading of code now extends to the lazy loading of translation strings. (No unnecessary translation text is loaded)
• No runtime translation map means strings are not in triplicate.

Disadvantages of compile time approaches are:

• Extra build step.
• Changing languages requires a page reload.

Recommendation

With the above in mind, Qwik recommends that you use a tool that best fits your constraints. To help you make a decision there are three different considerations: Browser, Server, and Development.

Browser

Qwik's goal is to deliver the best possible user experience. It achieves this by deferring the loading of code to later so that the initial startup performance is not overwhelmed. Because the runtime approach requires eager loading of all translations, we don't recommend this approach. We think that the compile-time approach is best for the browser.

Server

The server does not have the constraint of lazy loading. For this reason, the server can use either the runtime or compiled approach. The disadvantage of compile time approach on the server is that we need to have a separate deployment for each translation. This complicates the deployment process as well as puts greater demand on the number of servers. For this reason, we think the runtime approach is preferable on the server.

Development

During development, fewer build steps will result in a faster turnaround. For this reason, runtime translation should result in a simpler development workflow.

Our Recommendation

Our recommendation is to use a tool that would provide a runtime approach on the server, and runtime or compile time on the client depending on whether we are in development or production. This way it is possible to prove the best user experience and development experience, and use the least server resources.

Internationalization Libraries

$localize

$localize the translation system is based on the $localize system from Angular. The translations can be extracted in xmb, xlf, xlif, xliff, xlf2, xlif2, xliff2, and json formats.

NOTE: The $localize system is a compile-time translation system and is completely removed from the final output. $localize is a sub-project of Angular, and including its usage does not mean that Angular is used for rendering of applications.

The easiest way to add $localize to Qwik is using the Qwik CLI command. This will install the required dependencies and create a new public route /src/routes/[locale] showcasing i18n $localize integration.

For further reference, please check this example repo.

Extract translations

When you are done with your changes, you can use the i18n-extract command to extract the translations from the code. This will update the file you see in package.json.

Auto translations for $localize with deepl

For auto translations, you can use the deepl-localize package. It will automatically translate your strings using the deepl.com API.

Use the deepl-localize command to translate your strings with:

Alternatively, you can use the deepl-localize command to translate your strings within your script section:

{
  "scripts":{
    "translate":"deepl-localize translate -b src/locales/message.en.json -l de-DE fr-FR -a 'your-deepl-api-key'"
  }
}

compiled-i18n

compiled-i18n is inspired by the $localize system from Angular. It only requires a plugin to be added to the Vite configuration.

It supports both runtime and compile-time translations.

See the Qwik-specific instructions.

Automatic translation is supported via deepl-localize.

qwik-speak

qwik-speak library to translate texts, dates and numbers in Qwik apps.

The easiest way to add qwik-speak to Qwik is following the official guide.