Awesome

BabelFish - human friendly i18n for Ruby

Internationalisation with easy syntax for Ruby, Perl, node.js and browser. Classic solutions use multiple phrases for plurals. But we define plurals inline - that's more compact, and easy for programmers. Also, phrases are grouped into nested scopes, like in Ruby.

We support all pluralisation rules from unicode CLDR, version 2.0.1.

Installation

gem ins babelfish

# or simply bundle it into your Gemfile

Phrases Syntax

• #{varname} Echoes value of variable
• ((Singular|Plural1|Plural2)):count Plural form

example:

• А у меня в кармане #{nails_count} ((гвоздь|гвоздя|гвоздей)):nails_count

You can also omit anchor variable for plurals, by default it will be count. Thus following variants are equal:

• I have #{count} ((nail|nails))
• I have #{count} ((nail|nails)):count

Also you can use variables in plural parts:

• I have ((#{count} nail|#{count} nails))

Need special zero form or overwrite any specific value? No problems:

• I have ((=0 no nails|#{count} nail|#{count} nails))

Escape chars

If you need #{, ((, | or )) somewhere in text, where it can be considered as markup part - just escape them with \.

Example with YAML

As BabelFish flatten scopes, it's really fun and nice to store translations in YAML files:

---
ru-RU:
  profile: Профиль
  forums: Форумы
  apps:
    forums:
      new_topic: Новая тема
      last_post:
        title : Последнее сообщение
        by : от
  demo:
    apples: На столе лежит #{count} ((яблоко|яблока|яблок))

Usage

# Create new instance of Babelfish with default language/locale: 'en-GB'
require 'babelfish'
i18n = Babelfish.new('en-GB')


# Fill in some phrases
i18n.addPhrase('en-GB', 'demo.hello',         'Hello, #{user.name}.')
i18n.addPhrase('en-GB', 'demo.conv.wazup',    'Whats up?')
i18n.addPhrase('en-GB', 'demo.conv.alright',  'Alright, man!')
i18n.addPhrase('en-GB', 'demo.coerce',        'Total: #{count}.')

i18n.addPhrase('ru-RU', 'demo.hello',         'Привет, #{user.name}.')
i18n.addPhrase('ru-RU', 'demo.conv.wazup',    'Как дела?')

i18n.addPhrase('uk-UA', 'demo.hello',         'Здоровенькі були, #{user.name}.')


# Set locale fallback to use the most appropriate translation when possible
i18n.setFallback('by-BY', 'ru-RU')


# Translate
var params = {user: {name: 'ixti'}}

i18n.t('demo.hello', params, 'ru-RU')  # -> 'Привет, ixti.'
i18n.t('demo.conv.wazup', 'ru-RU')     # -> 'Как дела?'
i18n.t('demo.conv.alright', 'ru-RU')   # -> 'Alright, man!'

i18n.t('demo.hello', params, 'uk-UA')  # -> 'Здоровенькі були, ixti.'
i18n.t('demo.conv.wazup', 'uk-UA')     # -> 'Как дела?'
i18n.t('demo.conv.alright', 'uk-UA')   # -> 'Alright, man!'

# When params is number or strings, it will be coerced to
# `{ count: XXX, value: XXX }` - use any of those in phrase.
i18n.t('demo.coerce', 5, 'en-GB')      # -> 'Total: 5.'


# You may wish to "dump" translations to load in browser later
# Dump will include all fallback translations and fallback rules
var locale_dump = i18n.stringify('ru-RU')

# Use objects instead of strings (object/array/number/boolean) - can be
# useful to prepare bulk data for external libraries.
# Note, only JSON-supported types are ok (no date & regex)
i18n.addPhrase('en-GB', 'demo.boolean',  true)
i18n.addPhrase('en-GB', 'demo.number',   123)
i18n.addPhrase('en-GB', 'demo.array',    [1, 2, 3])
# fourth param required for hashes (objects) to disable flattening,
# other types are autodetected
i18n.addPhrase('en-GB', 'demo.array',    { foo:1, bar:"2" }, false)

Implementations in other languages

• JavaScript - nodeca/babelfish
• Perl - Locale::Babelfish

License

View the LICENSE file (MIT).