Let’s play with Unicode Control Characters for Bidirectional Languages
This article to introduce a brief explanation of Unicode Control Characters that may be use during localization cycle for Bi-directional languages especially with Software localization and Website localization, this to fix reading order issues.
What is Bi-directional languages?
Bi-directional languages are the languages containing text in both text directionalities, both Left-To-Right (LTR) and Right-To-Left (RTL). It generally involves text containing different types of alphabets that change text directionality in each raw.
Bi-directional languages writing system, in particular use the Arabic and Hebrew scripts this is for Arabic and Hebrew languages. In addition, derived systems such as Kurdish, Dari, Persian, Sindhi, Punjabi (Pakistan), Pashto, Uyghur and Yiddish scripts written in a form known as Right-To-Left, in which writing begins at the right-hand side of a page and concludes at the left-hand of a page.
These scripts are complex because of its bi-directional layout requirements; words are written Right-To-Left meanwhile numerals and Latin words are displayed Left-To-Right. Most of Operating Systems and Web Browsers use algorithms to handle and resolve the proper directionality of text.
Bi-directional languages localization
When we come to localization process for any products that need to be localize from Latin to any Bi-directional language, we will face some issues that related to reading order specially for the text that contains mixed and special characters like exclamation point “!”, hash “#”, percent “%”, slash “/”, …etc.
To solve the issues of reading order we need to use Unicode Control Characters.
What is Unicode Control Characters?
Its characters used to control the interpretation or display of text, but these characters themselves have no visual representation.
You can check some samples of Unicode Control Characters by open Notepad and right click on the editable area then click “Insert Unicode Character”, this will a view list of control Characters.
Some scenarios that explain the use of Unicode Control Characters during Localization
- RLM
Creating an English document which contains some Arabic words, but there is an issue with the bracket display.
- LRM
Creating an Arabic document which contains some English words, but there is an issue with the dot “.” Before the English text.
- LRE
Creating an Arabic document which contains a file path, but there is an issue with display the path.
PDF marker always used with RLE and RLE characters. Do you know why?
This is the end of the article, and I hope you can check these Unicode Characters and the power of using them to fix a lot of reading order issues with Bi-directional languages.
If anyone have a question regarding the Unicode Character or any difficulties to fix complex BiDi text, please ask in the comment.