Dates and times are scattered throughout customers’ digital experiences—whether they’re booking a trip, signing up for a virtual event, or estimating product delivery windows. But keeping track of dates gets confusing when every website or service uses a different format.

For global businesses, date localization is essential to delivering seamless, user-friendly experiences across markets. Date and time localization strategies make sure vital information is presented to each customer in the right formats and time zones. This way, you meet their expectations and avoid creating confusion — or losing sales opportunities. 

In this guide, we’ll explain why content localization matters, explore examples of different date formats, and share practical steps and tools to streamline your localization processes for global growth.

 

Why is date localization important?

Date localization is the process of adapting dates and times to fit the formats and standards of a specific region or locale. This might involve changing the locale date format from MM/DD/YYY to DD/MM/YYY or translating months and days to different languages. 

Taking steps to localize dates and times across websites and apps can help global businesses:

  • Improve user experiences: Proper date formatting makes it easier for customers to navigate your site and complete the checkout process.
  • Enhance consumer trust: Internationalization and localization improve accessibility and show that you understand the conventions of your customer’s culture.
  • Minimize costly errors: Displaying the right date locales and international time formats can avoid customer service calls and scheduling mistakes.

 

How can global businesses manage date localization?

There are a few different strategies you can use to present dates in different languages:

  • Server-side coding: Development teams can adjust the code in your source server to display the right times and dates for each language and region. For example, the server can automatically identify each user’s language by checking the X-Language-Locale heading in the HTTP request.
  • Client-side coding: Development teams use third-party programming libraries like JavaScript to localize dates and times after the page reaches the user’s browser.
  • Manual translation: Translators localize content manually for each market. Compared to the automated strategies above, this approach can be time-consuming and prone to human error. 

 

Developers can also use different date and time formatting standards to localize content, such as:

  • UTC: Coordinated Universal Time (UTC) is the standard time format used to regulate clocks around the world. In UTC formatting, dates are written as YYYY-MM-DDThh:mm:ss. The “T” separates the date and time. 

 

5 date localization challenges and best practices

Date localization can be technical and pose unique obstacles for global businesses, especially those localizing apps and websites for many different markets. 

Let’s unpack five of the most common challenges facing localization teams, plus helpful best practices to overcome them.

 

1. Handling ambiguous date formats

It’s one thing to display an obviously wrong date format. It’s another to display an ambiguous date format that people aren’t sure how to interpret. For example, 04/08 could mean April 8 to one user but August 4 to another, leading to confusion and scheduling errors.

Best practice: Automatically detect each user’s locale to meet them with the correct date formats and reduce the risk of misinterpretation.

 

2. Adjusting time zones


Adapting content and user experiences for various time zones requires a few extra steps for complete accuracy. Beyond just changing clocks for different countries, you also have to take daylight savings and regional variations in time zones into account.

 

Best practice: Leverage internationalization tools that support automatic time zone conversions. The IANA time zone database can help you standardize and streamline this process.

 

3. Managing different calendars

The 12-month Gregorian calendar is most widely used throughout the world, beginning with January and ending in December. However, many cultures and regions adhere to different calendars with their own lengths, month names, and religious holidays. The Japanese, Islamic, Hebrew, and Chinese calendars are just a few examples.

Best practice: Make sure your API supports a range of calendar systems and formats to properly localize dates and adapt to cultural needs.

 

4. Translating months and days

Localizing dates isn’t always as simple as translating words verbatim. Consider differences in grammar and phrasing for each region and language. After all, poorly translated months and days can cause even more confusion for multilingual audiences.

 

Best practice: Use a comprehensive, AI-powered Translation Management System (TMS) like Smartling to efficiently manage multilingual content at scale.

 

5. Maintaining consistency across platforms

It’s a challenge to localize one website or even webpage for international audiences, and adding other landing pages and apps into the mix makes this process even more complex. But meeting each customer with cohesive, localized content across touchpoints can improve satisfaction and engagement, so it’s worth the effort.

Best practice: Use a centralized localization platform and shared libraries to deliver consistent experiences on each channel.

 

Localizing time: 4 recommended tools

There are many tools and programming languages that properly display localized times and dates across platforms, including:

  1. Python: Use ‘datetime’ and ‘locale’ to show dates that match each user’s regional formatting and language.
  2. Java: Try ‘DateTimeFormatter,’ ‘LocalDate,’ and ‘Locale’ to show dates in the right calendar formats.
  3. JavaScript: Leverage JavaScript libraries like ‘Moment.ks,’ ‘date-fns,’ and ‘Luxon’ to create calendars and booking schedules in your user’s date and time formats.
  4. PHP: Use ‘DateTime’ and ‘IntlDateFormatter’ to display dates in different languages.

Smartling’s LanguageAI™ platform provides everything you need to build a successful translation program, including AI-powered features to localize date and time formats as needed. For example, Smartling’s AI Post-Editing Agent—which is part of the AI Toolkit—prompts the LLM to automatically correct date and time formats for strings with certain criteria. Connect Smartling to your tech stack to automate workflows and streamline translations from one platform.

 

Häufig gestellte Fragen

What’s the difference between date localization and time zone conversion?

Date localization and time zone conversion can go hand-in-hand, but they’re distinct processes. Date localization involves displaying dates in the correct formats for each regional audience. A US-based company, for example, might typically use the MM/DD/YYY date format but localize dates to the DD/MM/YYYY format for UK audiences. Meanwhile, time zone conversion involves displaying the right times for certain geographic areas, often based on UTC standards.

 

How can date localization improve user satisfaction?

Date localization improves user satisfaction by displaying information accurately and in each user’s expected formatting. This minimizes confusion and improves usability across websites and apps. Plus, meeting users with these personalized experiences can boost trust and engagement, leading to increased sales and conversions.

 

Localize dates across languages and regions with Smartling support

Dates and times might seem like small details in the scheme of your entire website or app experience. But they can have a major impact on usability and consumer engagement, especially for businesses expanding internationally and reaching multilingual audiences. 

With the right tools and techniques, every customer can get the most accurate and personalized information at each touchpoint. Smartling makes this process easier for developers with an enterprise-grade API, modern SDKs, and advanced automation tools that integrate directly into your tech stack. With Smartling’s fully customizable solutions, teams can eliminate manual tasks and streamline the translation process at scale. 

For more insights on optimizing multilingual content for global audiences, download our eBook, “Navigating the shift: Why, when, and how to adopt AI translation.”

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