I've just read this page http://weblogs.asp.net/scottgu/archive/2010/06/10/jquery-globalization-plugin-from-microsoft.aspx
One of the things they did was to convert the arabic date to the arabic calendar. I'm wondering if it is a good idea at all to do so. Will it actually be annoying/confusing for the user (even if the user is Arabic).
Also, my second question is that do we really need to change 33,899.99 to 33.899,99 for some cultures like German? I mean it doesn't hurt to do so since the library already does it for us but wouldn't this actually cause more confusion to the user (even if he is German, etc).
I'm sure whatever culture these people come from, if i give you a number 33,899.99 there's no way you'd get that wrong right? (unless my website/application is the first website/application you've ever used in your entire life, which arguably is possible but the probability is just that low)
I meant "universal" as the format that everyone will see and know what it means. It doesn't have to be some standard written in black-and-white and the like. As long as everyone can read it and know straightaway without confusion what the text is representing, that's universal. To be sure, 1.234,00 is definitely not universal. I mean i'm very sure you can find someone who in their entire lifetime, has been using computers yet have never came across this number format at all. Since most websites/apps had been using 1,234.00 without changes to accommodate localization, I believe that it has been the de-facto (the universal format that everyone will see and know what it means).
As for dates, if we write 01/02/03 I'm sure there's no way anyone will know (straightaway, rightaway, without ambiguity) what date it is. But no one can get Jan 2 2003, Feb 1 2003, Feb 3 2001 wrong if we wrote them as such isn't it?
Btw this question is targeting localization, don't tell me stuff like "Hey not everyone reads English alright!" because that is a matter of internationalization (which is beyond this topic). Let's stick to the discussion on localization.
Best Answer
Why should non-Anglos have to decode dates, numbers, etc. while Anglos can just read them? Numerical and date localization is absolutely necessary if you want non-Anglos to feel, you know, welcome as users and customers. Why should a German user have to work out what your number is instead of, you know, getting it in his or her own language's format?
Further, your view of number formats (and dates: q.v. below) is hopelessly simplistic. For example undoubtedly you'd find numbers like 1,234,567 "natural" and "obvious" and "logical" ... but what about people who come from cultures with myriad-based numbering schemes? My students (Chinese), for example, are always confused about numbers over 1000 because they group numbers differently. A more "natural" grouping for their thought processes (which include a myriad above the thousand point) is 123,4567. Further there are many contexts in which the European number systems in general are simply not suited. It would be nice in those circumstances to be able to write the all-Chinese 一百二十三万四千五百六十七 or even various hybrid systems that are in common use here.
Your idea for dates is wrong-headed too. You've correctly pointed out how 01/02/03 is ambiguous (if only because Americans refuse to comply with standards on dates) and suggest instead that Feb 3 2001 is unambiguous. I'm not sure, however, if you've noticed something there. It's unambiguous and unambiguously English. Going back to my students, I'm pretty damned certain that they'd far prefer to see 2001年2月3日 (or even 二〇〇一年二月三日) which is both unambiguous and, get this, something they can read without having to decode.
The bottom line on i18n and l10n: Do you want money and/or users? You make what your users want. Your users want things in their own language, not in yours. End of story.
edited to add
It gets even worse than myriad-based systems. Take a look at Indian numbering for this lovely progression:
...and so on up to:
See that grouping by three at the end? See that grouping by two after the grouping by three? See the sudden reintroduction of a group by three again?
further edited to add (I just can't keep off this subject it seems!)
Even the assumption of decimal number systems being universal is wrong. There are native numbering systems that are 4-based, 5-based, 8-base (octal), 10-based (decimal), 12-based, 20-based and even 60-based. These are all systems which have been in active use by real people (as in not made up for science fiction stories). Not all of these are still living (although we can see, for example, vestiges of 12-, 60-based numerical systems in English terminology).
As for dates, let us not forget the lunar calendars still in active use in much of the world. The Muslim world tends to use a lunar calendar where the dates can drift throughout the whole year while the Chinese use one with a complicated system that keeps the dates never more than a month away from true. (And that's just naming two off the top of my head.)