To familiarize yourself with shell scripts' internationalization and localization, use the Documentation menu entry. This is a must if you want to develop, maintain or translate internationalized shell scripts. Read Utilization to know each option's purpose and intended usage. Abbreviations used in the menu are: PO for Portable Object: catalog of human readable messages recording both the messages in the original language (usually English) and their translations in a given locale. There is one PO file per locale. POT for Portable Object Template: template including only the messages in the original language, used to initialize the POs. MO for Machine Object: compiled catalog of messages used by the 'gettext' program to translate "on the fly" messages displayed by the scripts in a given language. There should be one MO per locale, generated from the corresponding PO file According to POSIX standard : "A locale is the definition of the subset of a user's environment that depends on language and cultural conventions." In Linux a locale value takes the form: [language[_territory][.codeset][@modifier]] For practical reasons we will restrict us to following form: language_territory, abbreviated in ll_TT, with codeset=utf8 (implicit).