Mvc Localize Database values

Question

What's the best way to localize datas which come from db. Such as Category Names ?

MVC C# .net 4,4.5

Answer 1

You would need to have the translated values in the database.

If there are few languages, and will not change, you could add a column for each language (NameEn, NameEs, NameFr, etc.). Kinda goes against normalization rules, but makes life easier.

The other db approach would be to have a table that keeps all the translations:

Localize
 - Field
 - Locale
 - Translation

Then for the Category Name you would have three records, one for each language. You would simply query the table by field and locale.

Answer 2

A quite common approach is to localize it via your database by creating a separate translation table for each table with at least one columns that needs localization. This is what we usually do in our projects. Database data -> localize in DB. View/UI strings -> localize in resx Files.

Take a look at this answer here: Good database table design for storing localized versions of data

Edit: Contrary to the link we usually store the "default" language in the original table so there's no need to actually have a translation entry.

For example, if your table "Categories" contains the columns Id and Name your corresponding Translation table "Categories_Translation" could contain the columns CategoryId, LanguageCode, Name_Tx whereas Name_Tx contains the translated text of "Name" in the language "LanguageCode".