Does CLDR specify language-specific versions of "Label: Text"?
05:55 10 Nov 2025

In German and English, we use a colon followed by a space to separate a term from its explanation, or a label from the text that follows. But other languages do it differently. Rather than have a "colon followed by a space" translated from German to French, say, I wonder whether the language-specific variants could be derived from the Unicode CLDR standard. Is this possible?

For example, the //ldml/localDisplayNames/localeDisplayPattern/localeKeyTypePattern already contains what is needed:

  • Label: Text - German - colon followed by a space

  • Label : Text - French - colon preceded by a U+202F: NARROW NO-BREAK SPACE and followed by a space

  • Label:Text - Chinese - a different character than for German or French, not surrounded by spaces

From the documentation, it seems that this pattern is meant purely to produce locale descriptions like "Chinese (Traditional, China, Pinyin Sort Order, Currency: USD)". Can it be used for general labels nevertheless? Or is the Label: Text pattern defined more generally elsewhere in CLDR?

unicode internationalization cldr