The i18n Cookbook - recipies for a global society

Problem:

You want to retrieve a translated (localized) display name for a language, region, or locale.

Solution:

The Locale class contains methods to retrieve the localized display names for languages and countries. To retrieve a display name use the getDisplayLanguage, getDisplayCountry, and getDisplayName methods.

To get the display name for the language, country or locale using the system locale:

Locale[] locales = Locale.getAvailableLocales();

for(int x = 0; x < locales.length; x++){

  System.out.println(locales[x].getDisplayLanguage() + " - " + locales[x].getDisplayCountry() + " - " + locales[x].getDisplayName());

}

To retrieve a localized version of the display names you can specify a Locale as an argument to the method. This Locale is used to retrieve the appropriate display name.

Locale[] locales = Locale.getAvailableLocales();

for(int x = 0; x < locales.length; x++){

  System.out.println(locales[x].getDisplayLanguage(locales[x]) + " - " + locales[x].getDisplayCountry(locales[x]) + " - " + locales[x].getDisplayName(locales[x]));

}

To loop through all the locales again, but get a Japanese display name:

Locale[] locales = Locale.getAvailableLocales();

Locale japanese = Locale.JAPANESE;

for(int x = 0; x < locales.length; x++){

  System.out.println(locales[x].getDisplayLanguage(japanese) + " - " + locales[x].getDisplayCountry(japanese) + " - " + locales[x].getDisplayName(japanese));

}