Localization Lessons from Scaling Reddit to 35+ Languages
summary
Reddit scales Android localization to 35+ languages with a CI Python tool that uploads source strings to a TMS, nightly downloads translations, and enforces comment-context via lint rules and unit tests. A canary string lookup reveals which exact app language tag the OS chose (important because the app sees ~2500 unique language tags daily), accepts-language headers stay in sync, RTL largely works thanks to Compose, and language splits cut first-install size by ~8 MB. Bengali numerals use a script extension and Thai line breaks use zero‑width spaces.
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chapters (8)
- 0:00Localization challenges
- 1:22Android localization setup
- 7:17Backend translation sync
- 16:24Language picker screen
- 28:18Right-to-left language support
- 32:33Pseudo-localization testing
- 34:16Language case studies
- 38:00Q&A
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