Language demo

Switch the sample interface

Sample text Six short interface phrases from a fictional shop. They are samples only: check every one with a translator before you use it.

The switching and the live formats need JavaScript. With it off, the German set is shown and the table below the tool lists every phrase.

English Deutsch Français Italiano Español العربية

Opening hours

Öffnungszeiten

Request a quote

Offerte anfragen

Contact us

Kontakt

Choose your language

Sprache wählen

Add to basket

In den Warenkorb

Delivery in 2 to 3 working days

Lieferung in 2 bis 3 Werktagen

The same values, formatted by your browser for each locale

Live locale formats (generated by this browser's own locale data; some browsers have little data for rm-CH and fall back to other formatting)

Locale tag	Date	Number	Price
de-CH	Turn on JavaScript to see live formats.

What to look for

Length

Each phrase shows its character count and how much longer or shorter it is than the English. Short labels tend to change the most in proportion, which matches the pattern in the IBM figures cited by the W3C, where English strings of up to ten characters grow to two or three times their English length on average ¹. Six phrases are far too few to measure anything; they illustrate why buttons and menus need room.

Direction

When you choose العربية, the sample area switches to dir="rtl": text aligns to the right and the grid fills from the right. The English labels above each phrase keep their own lang="en" and dir="ltr", which is how a page marks a passage in another language, as WCAG 2.2 criterion 3.1.2 describes ². The W3C guidance on right-to-left markup explains why direction belongs in the markup rather than in CSS ³.

Formats

The table under the phrases is generated live by your browser's Intl interfaces, for seven locale tags including de-CH, fr-CH, it-CH and rm-CH. Some browsers carry little locale data for rm-CH, so its row may fall back to more general formatting. Compare the output with the snapshot in our Swiss formats guide, which came from a different engine; differences between them show why formatted output should be reviewed by a fluent reader.

The sample phrases

These are short samples written to show length and direction. They are not certified translations, and wording choices such as "Offerte" rather than "Angebot" reflect one possible Swiss usage, not the only correct one. Have a translator check any phrase before using it.

Why there is no Romansh column

Romansh appears in the formats table through the rm-CH tag, but not among the sample phrases. Writing even short Romansh samples without a fluent reviewer would risk publishing errors in a language with a small readership, which is exactly what this site advises against. If you need Romansh interface text, ask a Romansh translator and agree the written form with them.

Why the switcher has no flags

The buttons name each language in itself, with no flags, because flags represent countries rather than languages ⁴. Each button carries its own lang attribute so screen readers pronounce the name correctly. Our switcher guide covers the full reasoning.

Using it in a design review

Open the demo next to your own designs and switch to the longest language for each label you are sizing. If a button that fits "Contact us" cannot fit "Nous contacter", it will not fit a real translation either. Then switch to Arabic and check whether your layout has a plan for direction at all.

Privacy

The demo runs in your browser and sends nothing. Locale formats come from data already in your browser.