Supported Locales

The set of supported locales varies between different implementations of the Java 2 platform as well as between different areas of functionality.

This page documents locale support in Sun's Java 2 Software Development Kit, Standard Edition, v. 1.4.1 (J2SDK), and Java 2 Runtime Environment, Standard Edition, v. 1.4.1 (J2RE) in the following areas:

1. Enabled Locales for java.util and java.text Functionality
2. Enabled Writing Systems for Java Foundation Classes
   1. Overview
   2. Text Input
   3. Text Rendering
   4. Component Orientation
   5. Drag and Drop
3. User Interface Translation

1. Enabled Locales for java.util and java.text Functionality

The support for locale-sensitive behavior in the java.util and java.text packages is almost entirely platform independent, so all locales are supported in the same way and simultaneously, independent of the host operating system and its localization. The only platform dependent functionality is the setting of the initial default locale and the initial default time zone based on the host operating system's locale and time zone.

Sun's Java 2 Software Development Kit, Standard Edition, v. 1.4.1 and the international version of the Java 2 Runtime Environment, Standard Edition, v. 1.4.1 support all locales shown below. The US-only version of the Java 2 Runtime Environment, Standard Edition, v. 1.4.1 supports only the English/United States locale.

Fully Supported Locales

Language	Country	Locale ID
Arabic	Saudi Arabia	ar_SA
Chinese (Simplified)	China	zh_CN
Chinese (Traditional)	Taiwan	zh_TW
Dutch	Netherlands	nl_NL
English	Australia	en_AU
English	Canada	en_CA
English	United Kingdom	en_GB
English	United States	en_US
French	Canada	fr_CA
French	France	fr_FR
German	Germany	de_DE
Hebrew	Israel	iw_IL
Hindi	India	hi_IN
Italian	Italy	it_IT
Japanese	Japan	ja_JP
Korean	South Korea	ko_KR
Portuguese	Brazil	pt_BR
Spanish	Spain	es_ES
Swedish	Sweden	sv_SE
Thai (Western digits)	Thailand	th_TH
Thai (Thai digits)	Thailand	th_TH_TH

Also Provided, but not Tested

Language	Country	Locale ID
Albanian	Albania	sq_AL
Arabic	Algeria	ar_DZ
Arabic	Bahrain	ar_BH
Arabic	Egypt	ar_EG
Arabic	Iraq	ar_IQ
Arabic	Jordan	ar_JO
Arabic	Kuwait	ar_KW
Arabic	Lebanon	ar_LB
Arabic	Libya	ar_LY
Arabic	Morocco	ar_MA
Arabic	Oman	ar_OM
Arabic	Qatar	ar_QA
Arabic	Sudan	ar_SD
Arabic	Syria	ar_SY
Arabic	Tunisia	ar_TN
Arabic	United Arab Emirates	ar_AE
Arabic	Yemen	ar_YE
Bulgarian	Bulgaria	bg_BG
Belorussian	Belorussia	be_BY
Catalan	Spain	ca_ES
Chinese	Hong Kong	zh_HK
Croatian	Croatia	hr_HR
Czech	Czech Republic	cs_CZ
Danish	Denmark	da_DK
Dutch	Belgium	nl_BE
English	India	en_IN
English	Ireland	en_IE
English	New Zealand	en_NZ
English	South Africa	en_ZA
Estonian	Estonia	et_EE
Finnish	Finland	fi_FI
French	Belgium	fr_BE
French	Luxembourg	fr_LU
French	Switzerland	fr_CH
German	Austria	de_AT
German	Luxembourg	de_LU
German	Switzerland	de_CH
Greek	Greece	el_GR
Hungarian	Hungary	hu_HU
Icelandic	Iceland	is_IS
Italian	Switzerland	it_CH
Latvian	Latvia	lv_LV
Lithuanian	Lithuania	lt_LT
Macedonian	Macedonia	mk_MK
Norwegian (Bokmål)	Norway	no_NO
Norwegian (Nynorsk)	Norway	no_NO_NY
Polish	Poland	pl_PL
Portuguese	Portugal	pt_PT
Romanian	Romania	ro_RO
Russian	Russia	ru_RU
Serbian (Cyrillic)	Yugoslavia	sr_YU
Serbo-Croatian	Yugoslavia	sh_YU
Slovak	Slovakia	sk_SK
Slovenian	Slovenia	sl_SI
Spanish	Argentina	es_AR
Spanish	Bolivia	es_BO
Spanish	Chile	es_CL
Spanish	Colombia	es_CO
Spanish	Costa Rica	es_CR
Spanish	Dominican Republic	es_DO
Spanish	Ecuador	es_EC
Spanish	El Salvador	es_SV
Spanish	Guatemala	es_GT
Spanish	Honduras	es_HN
Spanish	Mexico	es_MX
Spanish	Nicaragua	es_NI
Spanish	Panama	es_PA
Spanish	Paraguay	es_PY
Spanish	Peru	es_PE
Spanish	Puerto Rico	es_PR
Spanish	Uruguay	es_UY
Spanish	Venezuela	es_VE
Turkish	Turkey	tr_TR
Ukrainian	Ukraine	uk_UA

2. Enabled Writing Systems for Java Foundation Classes

2.1 Overview

For the Java Foundation Classes (AWT, Swing, 2D, input method framework, drag and drop), locales can generally be characterized by just the writing system; there are no country or language specific distinctions. Writing system support in the JFC depends to some extent on the host operating system, and full support for simultaneous use of multiple languages is not always possible.

We consider a writing system supported by JFC if all functionality provided by JFC works adequately for this writing system in the following situations:

• On Windows 98, ME, and NT 4.0, when running on a Windows system localized for a language using that writing system.
• On Windows 2000 and XP, when running on a Windows system with both the user locale and the system locale set to a language using that writing system.
• On Solaris and Linux, when running on a host operating system with the locale set to one using that writing system and one of the encodings shown for that writing system in the table below.

Sun's Java 2 Software Development Kit, Standard Edition, v. 1.4.1 and the international version of the Java 2 Runtime Environment, Standard Edition, v. 1.4.1 support all writing systems shown below. The US-only version of the Java 2 Runtime Environment, Standard Edition, v. 1.4.1 supports only the Western European subset of the Latin writing system. Peered AWT components are only supported for a subset of the writing systems - see the last column.

Details on various areas of functionality are provided in the sections below.

Fully Supported Writing Systems

Writing System	Languages	Windows Code Page	Solaris Encodings	Linux Encodings	Peered AWT Components
Arabic	Arabic	1256	8859-6	unsupported	unsupported
Chinese (Simplified)	Chinese	936	gb2312, UTF-8, GBK, gb18030	GBK, gb2312	supported
Chinese (Traditional)	Chinese	950	cns11643, UTF-8, BIG5HK	unsupported	supported
Devanagari	Hindi	(1)	UTF-8	unsupported	unsupported
Hebrew	Hebrew	1255	8859-8	unsupported	unsupported
Japanese	Japanese	932	eucJP(2), UTF-8, PCK	eucJP(2)	supported
Korean	Korean	949	5601, UTF-8	unsupported	supported
Latin - Western European subset	English, French, German, Italian, Spanish, Swedish, etc.	1252	8859-1, 8859-15	8859-1	supported
Thai	Thai	874	TIS620.2533, UTF-8	unsupported	unsupported

(1) Requires input method implemented in the Java programming language as well as Lucida fonts.
(2) eucJP on Solaris supports the JIS character sets X 0201, X 0208, and X 0212; eucJP on Linux only X 0201 and X 0208.

Also Provided, but not Tested

Writing System	Languages	Windows Code Page	Solaris Encodings	Linux Encodings	Peered AWT Components
Chinese (Traditional)	Chinese	(see above)	BIG5 (additional)	unsupported	supported
Cyrillic	Belorussian, Russian etc.	1251	8859-5, KOI8-R, ANSI1251	unsupported	supported
Greek	Greek	1253	8859-7	unsupported	supported
Latin - Baltic subset	Latvian, Lithuanian	1257	8859-4, 8859-13	unsupported	supported
Latin - Central European subset	Czech, Hungarian, Polish, etc.	1250	8859-2	unsupported	supported
Latin - Turkic subset	Turkish etc.	1254	8859-9	unsupported	supported

2.2 Text Input

Support for text input consists of two parts: interpretation of keyboard layouts, and text composition using input methods. For interpretation of keyboard layouts, the Java 2 platform relies entirely on the host operating system. For text composition using input methods, Java 2 platform supports native input methods using the host operating system's input method manager as well as input methods developed in the Java programming language.

Locale support in input methods implemented in the Java programming language depends solely on the set of installed input methods, not on the host operating system and its localization. However, support for the use of input methods implemented in the Java programming language with peered components is implementation dependent - see below.

Support for keyboard layouts and and native input methods varies between platforms.

Windows

On Windows 98, ME, and NT, the J2RE supports use of any keyboard layout or IMM-based input method that can be installed into a particular localized version of the host operating system.

On Windows 2000 and XP, the J2RE supports use of any keyboard layout using a non-Unicode code page and of any IMM-based input method.

Global IME is not supported.

Input methods implemented in the Java programming language are supported in all components on all versions of Windows.

Solaris and Linux

The J2RE supports use of any keyboard layout or input method that can be used with a particular Solaris locale.

Input methods implemented in the Java programming language are supported in lightweight components (such as Swing text components), but not in peered components (such as AWT text components).

2.3 Text Rendering

Applications have two options for selecting fonts:

• Using the logical font names Serif, SansSerif, Dialog, DialogInput, Monospaced.
• Using a physical font, either requesting it by name or instantiating it using the Font.createFont method.

Text Rendering in Lightweight Components

When using logical font names, text in at least the writing system of the host locale and the Western European subset of the Latin writing system is supported.

When using physical fonts, we need to distinguish between simple and complex writing systems. Simple writing systems have a one-to-one mapping from characters to glyphs, and glyphs are placed on the baseline continuously from left to right. Complex writing systems may use different glyphs for the same character based on context, may for ligatures, may be written from right to left, and may reorder glyphs during line layout, or may have other rules for placing glyphs (in particular for combining marks).

The 2D text rendering system supports any combination of simple writing systems and the complex writing systems listed in the table above. Within these limitations, the range of supported writing systems is determined by the font. A single TrueType font might provide glyphs covering the entire Unicode character set and a Unicode based character-to-glyph mapping. Given such a font, 2D can support all simple writing systems as well as the complex writing systems shown in the table above. Other complex writing systems are not supported.

Text Rendering in Peered Components

When using logical font names, text in the writing system of the host operating system's locale is supported.

Physical fonts are not supported in peered components.

Text Rendering in Printing

There are three separate printing APIs:

• The 2D printing API, using the java.awt.print.PrinterJob.getPrinterJob method.
• The AWT printing API, using the java.awt.Toolkit.getPrintJob method.
• The pluggable services printing API, using the javax.print package.

Text rendering using the AWT and 2D printing API works to the same extent as text rendering on the screen. Text rendering using the pluggable services printing API depends on the printing service used; these services are not provided by the J2RE.

2.4 Component Orientation

The component orientation property is respected only by Swing components and layout managers, not by peered AWT components. It is independent of the host operating system. The following classes support component orientation:

java.awt.BorderLayout java.awt.FlowLayout java.awt.GridBagLayout javax.swing.BorderFactory javax.swing.BoxLayout javax.swing.JApplet javax.swing.JButton javax.swing.JCheckBox javax.swing.JCheckBoxMenuItem javax.swing.JColorChooser javax.swing.JComboBox javax.swing.JDesktopPane javax.swing.JDialog javax.swing.JEditorPane javax.swing.JFileChooser

javax.swing.JFrame javax.swing.JInternalFrame javax.swing.JLabel javax.swing.JLayeredPane javax.swing.JListBox javax.swing.JMenu javax.swing.JMenuBar javax.swing.JMenuItem javax.swing.JOptionPane javax.swing.JPanel javax.swing.JPasswordField javax.swing.JPopupMenu javax.swing.JProgressBar javax.swing.JRadioButton

javax.swing.JRadioButtonMenuItem javax.swing.JRootPane javax.swing.JScrollPane javax.swing.JSlider javax.swing.JTabbedPane javax.swing.JTextArea javax.swing.JTextField javax.swing.JTextPane javax.swing.JToggleButton javax.swing.JToolBar javax.swing.JToolTip javax.swing.JTree javax.swing.ProgressMonitor javax.swing.border.Border

2.5 Drag and Drop

On Windows 98, and ME, text in the writing system of the host operating system's localization can be transferred between applications.

On Windows NT, 2000, and XP, arbitrary Unicode text can be transferred between applications.

On Solaris and Linux, text in the character encoding of the host operating system's locale can be transferred between applications.

Applications that need to transfer arbitrary Unicode text independent of the host operating system, can do so using serialization: Create a Transferable which supports only one flavor: DataFlavor.stringFlavor. This flavor represents the serialized representation of a String. Make sure that the target supports stringFlavor as well. When the transfer occurs, the AWT will serialize out the String on one end and deserialize on the other. This is much slower than a native platform text transfer, but it will succeed where native transfers may not.

3. User Interface Translation

Java 2 Runtime Environment

The user interface elements provided by the Java 2 Runtime Environment, Standard Edition, v. 1.4.1, include Swing dialogs, messages written by the runtime environment to the standard output and standard error streams, as well as messages produced by the tools provided with the J2RE. These user interface elements are localized into the following languages:

Language	Locale ID
Chinese (Simplified)	zh_CN
Chinese (Traditional)	zh_TW
English	en
French	fr
German	de
Italian	it
Japanese	ja
Korean	ko
Spanish	es
Swedish	sv

Java 2 Software Development Kit

The user interface elements provided by the Java 2 Software Development Kit, Standard Edition, v. 1.4.1, include messages produced by the tools that are only part of the J2SDK in addition to the elements provided by the J2RE. The additional user interface elements are localized into the following languages:

Language	Locale ID
English	en
Japanese	ja