Project tools

Locale formatting and punctuation

Optional rules for number formats, quotation marks, and punctuation spacing in the target language.

Different languages write numbers and punctuation differently: 1,234.56 in English is 1.234,56 in German and 1 234,56 in French; French puts a thin space before ? and !; German opens quotes low („so"). Locale formatting applies these conventions to translation output automatically, as deterministic rules rather than model behavior.

The two toggles

  • Number formatting: converts number formats (thousands separators, decimal marks) to the target language's convention. Careful by design: years, version numbers, and codes are left untouched.
  • Punctuation & quotes: applies language-specific punctuation: French narrow no-break spaces before ?!:;» and guillemets, German „low-high" quotes, full-width punctuation in Chinese and Japanese text.

How to enable it

1

Open CAT settings → Locale & matching

Both toggles live there, off by default. Turn on the ones you want.

2

Translate as usual

The rules run automatically on every translation, text and documents alike, after the model produces its output.

Why these are software rules

Number separators and punctuation spacing follow rules that can be checked directly. Applying them after translation makes the result repeatable and testable. The toggles stay off by default because a project may follow a house style that differs from the general locale convention.