A Comprehensive Analysis of the International Development of HarmonyOS Next

I. Why Prioritize Internationalization Support?

• Global Trend: There is a need to distribute applications to over 170 countries and regions.
• Regulatory Compliance: It is necessary to adapt to regional data privacy regulations such as GDPR.
• User Experience: According to statistics from the Huawei App Market, a native - language interface can increase user retention by more than 40%.

II. Implementation of Multi - Language Support

1. Standardized Resource File Structure

resources/
├── base/  # Default resources
│   ├── element/
│   │   └── string.json 
│   └── media/ 
├── en_US/  # American English
├── zh_CN/  # Simplified Chinese
└── zh_HK/  # Traditional Chinese (Hong Kong)

2. Multi - Dimensional Language Configuration

// Example of string.json
{
  "string": [
    {
      "name": "welcome_message",
      "value": "Welcome to My App", // English
      "orientation": "horizontal", // For horizontal layouts
      "device": "phone"            // For phones
    },
    {
      "name": "welcome_message",
      "value": "欢迎使用本应用",   // Chinese
      "orientation": "vertical",  
      "device": "tablet"
    }
  ]
}

3. Dynamic Language Switching

// Implement runtime switching via ConfigurationManager
import configurationManager from '@ohos.configuration';

const newConfig = {
  language: 'fr', // Switch to French
  region: 'FR'
};

configurationManager.updateConfiguration(newConfig, (err) => {
  if (!err) {
    console.log('Language updated successfully');
  }
});

III. Internationalization Resource Management Strategy

1. Resource Hierarchy Management

Resource Type	Management Method	Example
Basic Text	string.json	Button copy
Formatted Text	plural.json	Pluralization handling
Media Resources	media/*	Localized images

2. Intelligent Resource Matching Mechanism

// Automatically match the best resources based on device characteristics
ResourceManager.getResourceManager().getString(
  context,
  "welcome_message", 
  { 
    device: "tv", 
    resolution: "4K" 
  }
);

3. Automation Validation Tools

• Lint Detection: Identify untranslated string resources.
• Coverage Report: Generate a heat map of multi - language coverage.
• Pseudo - Translation Tool: Quickly verify layout compatibility.

IV. Development Best Practices

1. Separation of Logic and Display

Avoid hard - coding text in the code. Use $r('app.string.xxx') uniformly.

2. Context - Sensitive Translation

Return different translations for the same key based on device type:

{
  "login_btn": {
    "phone": "Sign In",
    "car": "Start Authentication"
  }
}

3. Bidirectional Text Handling

Special processing for RTL languages like Arabic:

<Text 
  ohos:bidirectional="auto"
  ohos:text="$r('app.string.arabic_text')"/>