This document discusses internationalization (i18n) at Yelp, including how Yelp localizes its platform for users around the world while maintaining a consistent experience. It outlines Yelp's i18n framework, how it translates and launches its platform in new countries, and emphasizes that i18n is an ongoing process of launching, growing, and improving to connect more people with local businesses globally while keeping the experience locally relevant.

1. Rachel Zhao
rzhao@yelp.com
I18N 101
Making it global, keeping it local

2. Hi

3. internationalizationWhat the hell is i18n?

4. - what we do @ Yelp
- set the foundation
- i18n playbook
Overview

5. Yelp’s Mission
Connecting people with great
local businesses.

6. i18n @ yelp
What we do:
- localization framework
- keep Yelp local
- bring Yelp to new places
( 32 countries and counting)

7. Translation infrastructure
- Options:
- Vendor
- In house
- Crowdsource
The foundation

8. i18n playbook

9. Launch

10. Launch
a taste of the challenges:
- Search index
- ElasticSearch
- Lucene
- Date/Time format
- Babel (Python)
- Business Data
- various providers
- data ingestion pipeline

11. On the ground
Grow

12. Engineering
Grow

13. The devil is in the details
Improve

14. Improve

15. Improve

16. - Launch
- Grow
- Improve
REPEAT!

17. - making it global, keeping it local
- It’s a marathon, not a sprint
The takeaways