Lowercase of nouns not correct in German

Question

My application uses resouce bundles for different languages (I18N).

string.toLowerCase()

Lowercase is used all over the application to combine sentences.

problem: lowerCase is not correct for German nouns.

Resource bundle:

• English: resource_day = Day
• German: resource_day = Tag

Sentence:

• in English: This is the first day.
• in German: Dies ist der erste Tag.

Like you can see: The German language uses capital letters for the nouns.

Code:

sentence = resource_start + number + resource_day.toLowerCase();

What is the best way to differentiate the english and german language?

Answer 1

The best way to do that would be to store full sentences in your resources and use placeholders for the variable parts:

EN

resource_day = This is the {0} day.
day_first = first

DE

resource_day = Dies ist der {0} Tag.
day_first = erste

And use it as

String day_number = "day_first";
MessageFormat.format(RESOURCE_BUNDLE.getString("resource_day"), 
   RESOURCE_BUNDLE.getString(day_number);