Language Localization in Android with Example (original) (raw)

Last Updated : 23 Jul, 2025

**Language Localization is a process of changing the application context into multiple languages based on the requirements. Android is an overall operating system that runs on millions of devices worldwide and among various groups. Since the diversity range is enormous, a feature that facilitates local languages adds an advantage to any Android application. Implementation of such a feature requires the need to handle text, audio files, numbers, currency, and graphics appropriately for the locals where our application is used. Through this article, we want to show the implementation of a feature that changes the context language (if explicitly declared) through an Android application. A Sample GIF is given below to get an idea about what we are going to do in this article. Note that we are going to implement this project using the **Kotlin language.

Step by Step Implementation of Language Localization in Android

To make an application that changes the contextual language upon the device's preferences in Android, follow the following steps:

**Step 1: Create a New Project

To create a new project in Android Studio please refer to How to Create/Start a New Project in Android Studio. Note that select **Kotlin as the programming language.

**Step 2: Create a folder values-hi to store the custom messages

• Create a folder **values-hi by following the following steps. The **-hi extension defines that if the device's preference is set to **Hindi (hi), the context within the application would be set according to the data present in the values-hi folder.
• Click on Android and select the Project option:
• Now expand the folder until you find the res (Resources) folder, right-click on it, select new, and click Android Resource Directory.
• Set the directory name as values-hi
• The values-hi folder is now created

**Step 3: Create a strings.xml file

• Create a **strings.xml file in this folder, that shall contain a **custom message. Entities of this file **should match the entities of the **default strings.xml file.
• Now add a Values Resource File in the values-hi folder.
• Give it a name, strings, it creates a .XML file
• strings.xml file is created in the values-hi folder
• Go back to the Android view and check if the newly created file is present.
• The file is available under the values/strings folder

**Step 4: Add the custom message values to string.xml (regular) and string.xml (hi)

Add a custom message to the pre-existing as well as the newly created strings.xml file. The **entities of both the file must be the same, context may differ. Below is the code for the **strings.xml file.

strings.xml `

`

Below is the code for the **strings.xml (hi) file.

strings.xml(hi) `

`

**Step 5: Working with the activity_main.xml file

Now go to the **activity_main.xml file which represents the UI of the application. Create a TextView that would display the custom message. Below is the code for the **activity_main.xml file.

activity_main.xml `

<!--TextView to display the custom message-->
<TextView
    android:layout_width="wrap_content"
    android:layout_height="wrap_content"
    android:layout_centerInParent="true"
    android:gravity="center"
    android:text="@string/custom_message"
    android:textAlignment="center"
    android:textSize="30sp" />

`

**Step 6: Working with the MainActivity.kt file

No changes are made to the **MainActivity.kt file. Keep the **MainActivity.kt file unchanged.

MainActivity.kt `

import androidx.appcompat.app.AppCompatActivity import android.os.Bundle

class MainActivity : AppCompatActivity() { override fun onCreate(savedInstanceState: Bundle?) { super.onCreate(savedInstanceState) setContentView(R.layout.activity_main) } }

`

**Output: Run on Emulator

**Note : To access the full android application of Language Localization check this repository: Language Localization in Android