Identifying PT Application Locales

After the design team knows the locales of the application's users they can identify the level of localization the application requires. The specifications for the PT application state that the software will be localized for Germany, Japan, and the United States. The following information is available about these locales:

• German. The German version of the PT application will be localized for the German dialect used in Germany and will conform to the cultural conventions in Germany. Other Germanic-language locales, such as Austria, Lichtenstein, Luxembourg, and regions of Switzerland, use the German version of the software. About gate.asp and Two Versions of gate.asp describe how the application interprets language identifiers.
• Japanese. Japanese uses four different scripts: hiragana, katakana, kanji, and romaji. The design team must include support for all these scripts when planning the PT application.
• U.S. English. English is a widely used language and many regional versions of the language exist. The PT application will be localized using the terminology and conventions of the United States.

Summarizing Locale Characteristics describes the development issues that guide the team's efforts in localizing the PT application for German, Japanese, and U.S. English.