Advanced Internationalization Techniques

This guide covers advanced techniques for using the internationalization package in your Next.js application.

Handling Complex Translations

Nested Namespaces

You can use nested namespaces to organize your translations and access them efficiently:

// Access deeply nested translations
const { t } = useTranslation('web.products.categories.electronics');

// Now you can use shorter keys
t('title') // Instead of t('web.products.categories.electronics.title')

Rich Text Formatting

For translations that include HTML or formatting:

// In your translation file:
// {
//   "welcome": "Welcome to <strong>our website</strong>!"
// }

// In your component:
'use client';

import { useTranslation } from '@repo/internationalization/useTranslation';
import parse from 'html-react-parser';

export default function WelcomeMessage() {
  const { t } = useTranslation('web.home');
  
  // Parse HTML in translation
  const welcomeMessage = parse(t('welcome'));
  
  return <div className="welcome">{welcomeMessage}</div>;
}

Be careful with HTML in translations to avoid XSS vulnerabilities. Consider using a safer alternative like Markdown.

Date and Number Formatting

Advanced Date Formatting

Use the Intl API for consistent date formatting across locales:

'use client';

import { useTranslation } from '@repo/internationalization/useTranslation';
import { useParams } from 'next/navigation';

export default function EventDate({ date }: { date: Date }) {
  const { t } = useTranslation('web.events');
  const { locale } = useParams();
  
  const formatDate = (date: Date) => {
    return new Intl.DateTimeFormat(locale as string, {
      weekday: 'long',
      year: 'numeric',
      month: 'long',
      day: 'numeric',
      hour: 'numeric',
      minute: 'numeric',
      timeZoneName: 'short'
    }).format(date);
  };
  
  return (
    <div className="event-date">
      <span>{t('startsAt')}</span>
      <time dateTime={date.toISOString()}>{formatDate(date)}</time>
    </div>
  );
}

Currency Formatting

Format currency values according to the user’s locale:

'use client';

import { useTranslation } from '@repo/internationalization/useTranslation';
import { useParams } from 'next/navigation';

export default function ProductPrice({ price }: { price: number }) {
  const { t } = useTranslation('web.products');
  const { locale } = useParams();
  
  // Map locale to currency code
  const getCurrencyCode = (locale: string) => {
    const currencyMap: Record<string, string> = {
      en: 'USD',
      tr: 'TRY',
      es: 'EUR',
      de: 'EUR',
      fr: 'EUR'
    };
    
    return currencyMap[locale] || 'USD';
  };
  
  const formatCurrency = (amount: number) => {
    return new Intl.NumberFormat(locale as string, {
      style: 'currency',
      currency: getCurrencyCode(locale as string)
    }).format(amount);
  };
  
  return (
    <div className="product-price">
      <span>{t('price')}</span>
      <strong>{formatCurrency(price)}</strong>
    </div>
  );
}

Optimizing Performance

Lazy Loading Translations

For large applications, you can lazy load translations to improve initial load time:

// app/[locale]/layout.tsx
import { Suspense } from 'react';
import { getDictionary } from '@repo/internationalization';
import LoadingFallback from '@/components/LoadingFallback';

export default async function Layout({ 
  children, 
  params 
}: { 
  children: React.ReactNode;
  params: { locale: string };
}) {
  const dictionary = await getDictionary(params.locale);
  
  return (
    <html lang={params.locale}>
      <body>
        <header>
          {/* Header content */}
        </header>
        <main>
          <Suspense fallback={<LoadingFallback />}>
            {children}
          </Suspense>
        </main>
        <footer>
          {/* Footer content */}
        </footer>
      </body>
    </html>
  );
}

Memoizing Translations

Use memoization to prevent unnecessary re-renders:

'use client';

import { useTranslation } from '@repo/internationalization/useTranslation';
import { useMemo } from 'react';

export default function MemoizedComponent() {
  const { t } = useTranslation('web.common');
  
  // Memoize expensive translation operations
  const translatedItems = useMemo(() => {
    return Array.from({ length: 100 }, (_, i) => ({
      id: i,
      title: t(`items.${i}.title`),
      description: t(`items.${i}.description`)
    }));
  }, [t]);
  
  return (
    <div className="items-list">
      {translatedItems.map(item => (
        <div key={item.id} className="item">
          <h3>{item.title}</h3>
          <p>{item.description}</p>
        </div>
      ))}
    </div>
  );
}

SEO Optimization

Hreflang Tags

Add hreflang tags to improve SEO for multilingual content:

// app/[locale]/layout.tsx
import { getDictionary } from '@repo/internationalization';
import { i18nConfig } from '@repo/internationalization/i18nConfig';
import { Metadata } from 'next';

export async function generateMetadata({ 
  params 
}: { 
  params: { locale: string } 
}): Promise<Metadata> {
  const dictionary = await getDictionary(params.locale);
  
  return {
    title: dictionary.web.home.meta.title,
    description: dictionary.web.home.meta.description,
    alternates: {
      languages: Object.fromEntries(
        i18nConfig.locales.map(locale => [
          locale,
          `/${locale}${params.locale === i18nConfig.defaultLocale ? '' : '/'}`
        ])
      )
    }
  };
}

export default async function Layout({ children, params }) {
  // Layout implementation
}

Localized Sitemaps

Create localized sitemaps for better search engine indexing:

// app/sitemap.ts
import { i18nConfig } from '@repo/internationalization/i18nConfig';

export default async function sitemap() {
  const baseUrl = process.env.NEXT_PUBLIC_BASE_URL || 'https://example.com';
  
  // Define your routes
  const routes = [
    '',
    '/about',
    '/contact',
    '/blog'
  ];
  
  // Generate entries for all locales
  const entries = i18nConfig.locales.flatMap(locale => 
    routes.map(route => ({
      url: `${baseUrl}/${locale}${route}`,
      lastModified: new Date(),
      changeFrequency: 'weekly',
      priority: route === '' ? 1 : 0.8,
      alternateRefs: i18nConfig.locales
        .filter(l => l !== locale)
        .map(l => ({
          href: `${baseUrl}/${l}${route}`,
          hreflang: l
        }))
    }))
  );
  
  return entries;
}

Advanced Routing

Locale-Aware API Routes

Create API routes that respect the user’s locale:

// app/api/[locale]/data/route.ts
import { NextRequest, NextResponse } from 'next/server';
import { getDictionary } from '@repo/internationalization';

export async function GET(
  request: NextRequest,
  { params }: { params: { locale: string } }
) {
  const dictionary = await getDictionary(params.locale);
  
  // Get data based on locale
  const data = await fetchLocalizedData(params.locale);
  
  return NextResponse.json({
    title: dictionary.web.api.dataTitle,
    description: dictionary.web.api.dataDescription,
    items: data.map(item => ({
      ...item,
      // Translate category names
      category: dictionary.web.categories[item.categoryKey] || item.categoryKey
    }))
  });
}

Dynamic Route Generation

Generate routes for all supported locales:

// app/[locale]/blog/[slug]/page.tsx
import { getDictionary } from '@repo/internationalization';
import { i18nConfig } from '@repo/internationalization/i18nConfig';

// Generate static params for all locales
export async function generateStaticParams() {
  const posts = await fetchAllBlogPosts();
  
  return i18nConfig.locales.flatMap(locale => 
    posts.map(post => ({
      locale,
      slug: post.slug
    }))
  );
}

export default async function BlogPost({ 
  params 
}: { 
  params: { locale: string; slug: string } 
}) {
  const dictionary = await getDictionary(params.locale);
  const post = await fetchBlogPost(params.slug, params.locale);
  
  return (
    <article>
      <h1>{post.title}</h1>
      <div className="content">{post.content}</div>
    </article>
  );
}

Testing Internationalization

Unit Testing Translations

Test that your components display the correct translations:

// __tests__/components/Header.test.tsx
import { render, screen } from '@testing-library/react';
import Header from '@/components/Header';
import { TranslationProvider } from '@repo/internationalization/TranslationProvider';

// Mock dictionaries
const mockEnDictionary = {
  web: {
    header: {
      home: 'Home',
      about: 'About',
      contact: 'Contact'
    }
  }
};

const mockTrDictionary = {
  web: {
    header: {
      home: 'Ana Sayfa',
      about: 'Hakkımızda',
      contact: 'İletişim'
    }
  }
};

describe('Header Component', () => {
  test('renders English navigation', () => {
    render(
      <TranslationProvider locale="en" messages={mockEnDictionary}>
        <Header />
      </TranslationProvider>
    );
    
    expect(screen.getByText('Home')).toBeInTheDocument();
    expect(screen.getByText('About')).toBeInTheDocument();
    expect(screen.getByText('Contact')).toBeInTheDocument();
  });
  
  test('renders Turkish navigation', () => {
    render(
      <TranslationProvider locale="tr" messages={mockTrDictionary}>
        <Header />
      </TranslationProvider>
    );
    
    expect(screen.getByText('Ana Sayfa')).toBeInTheDocument();
    expect(screen.getByText('Hakkımızda')).toBeInTheDocument();
    expect(screen.getByText('İletişim')).toBeInTheDocument();
  });
});

E2E Testing with Different Locales

Test the full user experience with different locales:

// cypress/e2e/internationalization.cy.ts
describe('Internationalization', () => {
  it('should display content in English by default', () => {
    cy.visit('/');
    cy.get('h1').should('contain', 'Transform Your Business Operations Today');
    cy.get('nav').should('contain', 'Home');
  });
  
  it('should display content in Turkish when visiting /tr route', () => {
    cy.visit('/tr');
    cy.get('h1').should('contain', 'İşletme Operasyonlarınızı Bugün Dönüştürün');
    cy.get('nav').should('contain', 'Ana Sayfa');
  });
  
  it('should allow switching languages', () => {
    cy.visit('/en');
    cy.get('.language-switcher').contains('Türkçe').click();
    cy.url().should('include', '/tr');
    cy.get('h1').should('contain', 'İşletme Operasyonlarınızı Bugün Dönüştürün');
  });
});

Integration with Third-Party Services

Integrating with Translation Services

Automate translation updates using external translation services:

// scripts/update-translations.ts
import fs from 'fs';
import path from 'path';
import { TranslationService } from 'some-translation-api';

async function updateTranslations() {
  // Read source translations
  const sourcePath = path.join(process.cwd(), 'dictionaries/en.json');
  const sourceTranslations = JSON.parse(fs.readFileSync(sourcePath, 'utf8'));
  
  // Get target locales
  const config = JSON.parse(
    fs.readFileSync(path.join(process.cwd(), 'languine.json'), 'utf8')
  );
  const targetLocales = config.locale.targets;
  
  // Initialize translation service
  const translationService = new TranslationService({
    apiKey: process.env.TRANSLATION_API_KEY
  });
  
  // Update each target locale
  for (const locale of targetLocales) {
    console.log(`Updating translations for ${locale}...`);
    
    const targetPath = path.join(process.cwd(), `dictionaries/${locale}.json`);
    let targetTranslations = {};
    
    // Load existing translations if available
    if (fs.existsSync(targetPath)) {
      targetTranslations = JSON.parse(fs.readFileSync(targetPath, 'utf8'));
    }
    
    // Find missing or updated translations
    const updatedTranslations = await translateMissingKeys(
      sourceTranslations,
      targetTranslations,
      locale,
      translationService
    );
    
    // Write updated translations
    fs.writeFileSync(
      targetPath,
      JSON.stringify(updatedTranslations, null, 2),
      'utf8'
    );
    
    console.log(`Updated translations for ${locale}`);
  }
}

// Helper function to translate missing keys
async function translateMissingKeys(source, target, locale, service) {
  // Implementation details
}

updateTranslations().catch(console.error);

Introduction

Setup

CLI

Internationalization

Deployment

Advanced Usage

Advanced Internationalization Techniques

Handling Complex Translations

Nested Namespaces

Rich Text Formatting

Date and Number Formatting

Advanced Date Formatting

Currency Formatting

Optimizing Performance

Lazy Loading Translations

Memoizing Translations

SEO Optimization

Hreflang Tags

Localized Sitemaps

Advanced Routing

Locale-Aware API Routes

Dynamic Route Generation

Testing Internationalization

Unit Testing Translations

E2E Testing with Different Locales

Integration with Third-Party Services

Integrating with Translation Services

Next Steps

Troubleshooting

API Reference

Introduction

Setup

CLI

Internationalization

Deployment

​Advanced Internationalization Techniques

​Handling Complex Translations

​Nested Namespaces

​Rich Text Formatting

​Date and Number Formatting

​Advanced Date Formatting

​Currency Formatting

​Optimizing Performance

​Lazy Loading Translations

​Memoizing Translations

​SEO Optimization

​Hreflang Tags

​Localized Sitemaps

​Advanced Routing

​Locale-Aware API Routes

​Dynamic Route Generation

​Testing Internationalization

​Unit Testing Translations

​E2E Testing with Different Locales

​Integration with Third-Party Services

​Integrating with Translation Services

​Next Steps

Troubleshooting

API Reference

Advanced Internationalization Techniques

Handling Complex Translations

Nested Namespaces

Rich Text Formatting

Date and Number Formatting

Advanced Date Formatting

Currency Formatting

Optimizing Performance

Lazy Loading Translations

Memoizing Translations

SEO Optimization

Hreflang Tags

Localized Sitemaps

Advanced Routing

Locale-Aware API Routes

Dynamic Route Generation

Testing Internationalization

Unit Testing Translations

E2E Testing with Different Locales

Integration with Third-Party Services

Integrating with Translation Services

Next Steps