JSR 238: Mobile Internationalization API (MIA)

JSR 238, the Mobile Internationalization API, is designed for applications that are to be displayed in multiple languages and used in multiple countries. The combination of country (or region) and language is a locale.

The central concept of JSR 238 is a resource, which is a string, image, or other object that is suitable for a particular locale. For example, an application that is to be distributed in Europe might include resources for Italian-speaking people living in Italy, Italian-speaking people living in Switzerland, Spanish-speaking people living in Spain and so on.

Resources are stored in files in a format defined in JSR 238. The resource files are bundled as part of the MIDlet suite JAR file. The Java ME Platform SDK provides a resource manager that simplifies the job of creating and maintaining resource files.