Localization Readiness Audit

Use when a product manager, engineering lead, globalization manager, localization PM, DevRel engineer, or QA lead needs to audit a single product surface (web app, mobile app, desktop app, API, marketing site, or game) for internationalization / localization readiness BEFORE engaging a translation vendor, sending strings out for translation, or committing to a new-locale launch date. Guides scoped intake of the product, target BCP-47 locales, tech stack, current i18n approach, content sources, and launch deadline, then walks eight readiness dimensions (Unicode and encoding; string externalization and message format including ICU MessageFormat / gettext / XLIFF; plural and gender rules; dates, numbers, currency, units; locale-aware sorting and search; RTL and bidirectional text; UI expansion and layout; content-localization process and legal-regulatory exposure), tags each finding Blocker / Major / Minor / Nit with evidence, recommended fix, owner, and S / M / L effort, and produces a DRAFT audit with a Top-10 blockers list, a Ship / Fix-then-ship / Hold verdict, an owner-tagged remediation plan, per-locale launch-readiness checklists, and an unresolved-information list — for product / engineering / globalization-lead review. Never modifies code or content, never executes translations, never selects a vendor, never makes the launch decision, never opines on country-specific legal or regulatory compliance (GDPR, CCPA, accessibility statutes, age rating, content moderation, payments licensing) — those items are flagged for licensed-counsel and market-specific review.

by @archlab-space (devasher)·MIT-0