Hacker News new | ask | show | jobs
by ser_tyrion 3905 days ago
"Personalized Features: Language" sounds like a lot of work for not much payoff. Halting the launch before translations are ready will get in the way of 'just shipping'. That said, probably a good idea to dev with js i18next even if all translations aren't ready.
3 comments

Having added localisation to applications after a few years of not considering it I now try to build all but the most trivial tools with it in mind. In most cases the only locale will be en-GB, but having at least considered the possibility early on makes the process of adding that second locale infinitely less painful, and by extension the thought of expanding into other markets less scary.
I agree, localization is a massive investment for doubtful payoff when you don't even know yet whether anyone needs what you're building. Also, on my most recent project, as soon as I had paying customers, some of the international ones offered to help with the translation work.
That's true, not all these things are equal priority. I do agree that launching quickly is important to start getting feedback from the users. But by fixing obvious issues, you get more meaningful feedback from the users.