Unicode releases Common Locale Data Repository, Version 1.1

Mountain View, CA, June 8, 2004 - The Unicode® Consortium announced today the release of new versions of the Common Locale Data Repository (CLDR 1.1) and the Locale Data Markup Language specification (LDML 1.1), providing key building blocks for software to support the world's languages. This new release contains data for 247 locales, covering 78 languages and 118 countries. There are also 36 draft locales in the process of being developed, covering an additional 17 languages and 7 countries.

To support users in different languages, programs must not only use translated text, but must also be adapted to local conventions. These conventions differ by language or region and include the formatting of numbers, dates, times, and currency values, as well as support for differences in measurement units or text sorting order. Most operating systems and many application programs currently maintain their own repositories of locale data to support these conventions. But such data are often incomplete, idiosyncratic, or gratuitously different from program to program. In the age of the internet, software components must work together seamlessly, without the problems caused by these discrepancies.

The Common Locale Data Repository (CLDR) provides a general XML format for the exchange of locale information for use in application and system software development, combined with a public repository for a common set of locale data in that format. The first release of CLDR data was at the start of this year; it is already appearing in products from prominent Unicode consortium member companies.

In this release, CLDR 1.1 contains roughly 50% more data than CLDR 1.0: adding many translated terms for languages, scripts, countries, currencies, and time zones. It also improves collation for a number of languages in Eastern Europe, and adds stand-alone month data for Slavic languages and Greek, and narrow month/day names for quite a number of languages. Among other things, the LDML 1.1 adds new formats for narrow and stand-alone month and day names (used in online calendar applications), and POSIX compatibility fields.

For more information about the CLDR project, see http://www.unicode.org/cldr/.

About the Unicode Consortium

The Unicode Consortium is a non-profit organization founded to develop, extend and promote use of the Unicode Standard and related globalization standards. The consortium works very closely with the INCITS L2 committee and with ISO/IEC JTC1 SC2.

The membership of the consortium represents a broad spectrum of corporations and organizations in the computer and information processing industry. Full members (the highest level) are: Adobe Systems, Apple Computer, Basis Technology, Government of India - Ministry of Information Technology, Government of Pakistan - National Language Authority, HP, IBM, Justsystem, Microsoft, Oracle, PeopleSoft, RLG, SAP, Sun Microsystems, and Sybase.

Membership in the Unicode Consortium is open to organizations and individuals anywhere in the world who support the Unicode Standard and wish to assist in its extension and implementation. For additional information on Unicode, please contact the Unicode Consortium (http://www.unicode.org/).

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