Implementing Internationalization (i18n) in Angular Applications Using CLI’s i18n Tools

Angular is a robust framework that supports i18n (Internationalization) through its CLI's i18n tools. Internationalization is the process of designing and preparing your app to be usable in different languages. This process involves integrating translations and formatting documents according to locale-specific conventions.

Angular CLI's i18n Tools

The Angular CLI's i18n tools are a part of Angular's core functionality and it provides built-in support for i18n and l10n (Localization). 'i18n' symbol is used as an attribute name and it marks an element for translation. You can use these tools to extract text messages, translate them, and then merge the translations back into your application.

<h1 i18n="site header|An introduction header for this sample@@introductionHeader">Hello i18n!</h1>

In this code snippet, the i18n attribute tells Angular to translate the text. The text within the attribute is the description that provides more context to the translator. The @@ is used to set a custom id for this translation, which helps in tracking or revisiting the translations.

After marking the texts for translation, the CLI's xi18n command is used to extract them into a translation source file.

ng xi18n

Advantages of Using Angular's i18n

By using Angular's i18n, you are leveraging the natural capabilities of Angular and minimizing reliance on third-party libraries. This approach provides better compatibility and stability for your app.

Moreover, Angular's i18n support provides a comprehensive set of utilities for common internationalization tasks:

1. Number, Date and Currency pipes: These can transform a number, date, or currency value according to locale rules.
2. Pluralization and gender rules: You can express complex localization rules with relative ease.

In conclusion, Angular CLI's i18n tools are the best and recommended way to implement internationalization in your Angular apps. It's not only robust and comprehensive but also integrated directly into Angular, ensuring better maintainability and compatibility. It's worth noting that you shouldn't implement internationalization by defining multiple components for each language or relying solely on external libraries, as these methods can lead to more complications and difficulties in managing the code in the long run.