Unicode CLDR v45 released

The Unicode CLDR v45 is now available and has been integrated into version 75 of ICU. The CLDR v45 release page has information on accessing the data, reviewing charts of the changes, and — importantly — Migration issues.

CLDR provides key building blocks for software to support the world's languages (dates, times, numbers, sort-order, etc.) For example, all major browsers and all modern mobile phones use CLDR for language support. (See Who uses CLDR?)

CLDR 45 did not have a Survey Tool submission phase, and focused on tooling and just a few functional areas:

MessageFormat 2.0 Tech Preview

Software needs to construct messages that incorporate various pieces of information. The complexities of the world's languages make this challenging. The goal for MessageFormat 2.0 is to allow developers and translators to create natural-sounding, grammatically-correct, user interfaces that can appear in any language and support the needs of various cultures.

The new MessageFormat defines the data model, syntax, processing, and conformance requirements for the next generation of dynamic messages. It is intended for adoption by programming languages, software libraries, and software localization tooling. It enables the integration of internationalization APIs (such as date or number formats), and grammatical matching (such as plurals or genders). It is extensible, allowing software developers to create formatting or message selection logic that add on to the core capabilities. Its data model provides the means of representing existing syntaxes, thus enabling gradual adoption by users of older formatting systems.
See also:

• UTW { } MessageFormat v2 (November 7, 2023)
  
• Message Format Virtual Open House (February 20, 2024)

Keyboard 3.0 stable version

Keyboard support for digitally disadvantaged languages (DDLs) is often lacking or inconsistent between platforms. The updated LDML Keyboard 3.0 format specifies an interchange format for keyboard data. This will allow keyboard authors to create a single mapping file for their language, which implementations can use to provide that language’s keyboard mapping on their own platform. This format allows both physical and virtual (that is, on-screen or touch) keyboard layouts for a language to be defined in a single file.

See also:

• CLDR, Beyond Locale Data (June 22, 2023)
  

Tooling changes

Many tooling changes are difficult to accommodate in a data-submission release, including performance work and UI improvements. The changes in v45 provide faster turn-around for linguists and higher data quality. They are targeted at the v46 submission period, starting in May, 2024.

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ICU 75 Released

Unicode® ICU 75 has just been released. ICU is the premier library for software internationalization, used by a wide array of companies and organizations to support the world's languages, implementing both the latest version of the Unicode Standard and of the Unicode locale data (CLDR). ICU 75 updates to CLDR 45 (beta blog) locale data with new locales and various additions and corrections. C++ code now requires C++17 (C code now requires C11) and is being made more robust.

The CLDR MessageFormat 2.0 specification is now in technology preview, together with a corresponding update of the ICU4J (Java) tech preview and a new ICU4C (C++) tech preview.

For details, please see https://icu.unicode.org/download/75.

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Adopt a Character and Support Unicode’s Mission

Looking to give that special someone a special something?
Or maybe something to treat yourself?
🕉️💗🏎️🐨🔥🚀爱₿♜🍀

Adopt a character or emoji to give it the attention it deserves, while also supporting Unicode’s mission to ensure everyone can communicate in their own languages across all devices.

Each adoption includes a digital badge and certificate that you can proudly display!

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You can also donate funds or gift stock

Unicode CLDR v45 Beta available for specification review

The Unicode CLDR v45 Beta is now available for specification review and integration testing. The release is planned for April 17th, but any feedback on the specification needs to be submitted well in advance of that date. The specification is available at Draft LDML Modifications. The biggest change is the new Message Formats and Keyboards section; see also the Migration section.

The beta has already been integrated into the development version of ICU. We would especially appreciate feedback from ICU users and non-ICU consumers of CLDR data, and on Migration issues.

Feedback can be filed at CLDR Tickets.

CLDR provides key building blocks for software to support the world's languages (dates, times, numbers, sort-order, etc.) For example, all major browsers and all modern mobile phones use CLDR for language support. (See Who uses CLDR?)

Via the online Survey Tool, contributors supply data for their languages — data that is widely used to support much of the world’s software. This data is also a factor in determining which languages are supported on mobile phones and computer operating systems.

CLDR 45 did not have a Survey Tool submission phase, and focused on tooling and just a few functional areas:

MessageFormat 2.0 Tech Preview

Software needs to construct messages that incorporate various pieces of information. The complexities of the world's languages make this challenging. The goal for MessageFormat 2.0 is to allow developers and translators to create natural-sounding, grammatically-correct, user interfaces that can appear in any language and support the needs of various cultures.

The new MessageFormat defines the data model, syntax, processing, and conformance requirements for the next generation of dynamic messages. It is intended for adoption by programming languages, software libraries, and software localization tooling. It enables the integration of internationalization APIs (such as date or number formats), and grammatical matching (such as plurals or genders). It is extensible, allowing software developers to create formatting or message selection logic that add on to the core capabilities. Its data model provides the means of representing existing syntaxes, thus enabling gradual adoption by users of older formatting systems.

See also:

• UTW { } MessageFormat v2 (November 7, 2023)
• Message Format Virtual Open House (February 20, 2024)

Keyboard 3.0 stable version

Keyboard support for digitally disadvantaged languages (DDLs) is often lacking or inconsistent between platforms. The updated LDML Keyboard 3.0 format specifies an interchange format for keyboard data. This will allow keyboard authors to create a single mapping file for their language, which implementations can use to provide that language’s keyboard mapping on their own platform. This format allows both physical and virtual (that is, on-screen or touch) keyboard layouts for a language to be defined in a single file.

See also:

• CLDR, Beyond Locale Data (June 22, 2023)

Tooling changes

Many tooling changes are difficult to accommodate in a data-submission release, including performance work and UI improvements. The changes in v45 provide faster turn-around for linguists and higher data quality. They are targeted at the v46 submission period, starting in May, 2024.

For more information

See the draft CLDR v45 release page, which has information on accessing the data, reviewing charts of the changes, and — importantly — Migration issues.

---

Adopt a Character and Support Unicode’s Mission

Looking to give that special someone a special something?
Or maybe something to treat yourself?
🕉️💗🏎️🐨🔥🚀爱₿♜🍀

Adopt a character or emoji to give it the attention it deserves, while also supporting Unicode’s mission to ensure everyone can communicate in their own languages across all devices.

Each adoption includes a digital badge and certificate that you can proudly display!

Have fun and support a good cause

You can also donate funds or gift stock