Translate a YAML file into Korean with keys and variables intact

How Korean reshapes your YAML strings

Korean is written in Hangul, left to right, with spaces between word groups. Three features directly affect the values in a locale file.

• Word order. The verb comes last, so placeholders move: Delete %{name}? becomes %{name}을(를) 삭제할까요?. A sentence split across two keys, such as delete_prefix and delete_suffix, rarely survives: Korean order decides, not the order of your fragments.
• Particles. A subject takes 이 or 가 and an object takes 을 or 를, depending on whether the preceding word ends in a consonant or a vowel. After %{name}, the right form depends on a value only known at runtime. Hence patterns such as (이)가, or adding the honorific 님 after a person's name, as in %{name}님이 초대했습니다, where 님 fixes the particle.
• Counters. Numbers follow the noun with a classifier: 파일 %{count}개 for files, 명 for people, 건 for items or cases.

On screen, Korean often uses fewer characters than English, but each syllable block is full-width, so a button label is not necessarily narrower.

Plurals: from one/other to other alone

Under CLDR, Korean has one plural category: other. A Rails or i18n-js block such as:

• one: '1 message'
• other: '%{count} messages'

needs a single form in Korean: other: '메시지 %{count}개'. Manuce adapts plural blocks to the target language, and therefore to Korean's categories. The noun itself never changes: 메시지 is the same for one message or a hundred.

Two things to check on your side:

• your i18n library must know the Korean plural rule, otherwise it may look for a missing one key when count is 1;
• in Symfony with ICU messages, make sure {count} still sits inside the other branch.

What Manuce returns, and what it does not do

You get back the same file, in the same format, ready to drop into your project: indentation, key order, quotes, comments, line endings, encoding and BOM are preserved. Only the values change. For Rails, Symfony, Hugo and i18n-js, the root language key is handled; anchors, | and > blocks and comments are kept.

Each translated value is checked against its source: the %{name} and {name} variables and any tags must match. If a mismatch persists, the source value is kept and the report says so. The report lists translated strings and strings left as they were, with the reason.

Not translated: keys, empty values, URLs, email addresses, numbers, colours, date formats, identifiers and anything marked as non-translatable.

In practice for Korean, a format like '%Y-%m-%d' stays as it is. If you want the Korean convention, 2025년 3월 14일, you write '%Y년 %m월 %d일' yourself. Manuce does not test rendering in your interface and does not provide sworn or certified translation.

Pricing counts the words in values only, keys and tags excluded, with a ×1.6 coefficient for Korean.

Preparing the file

• Encoding. Hangul needs Unicode. Since the original encoding is kept, a Latin-1 file cannot hold Korean: convert it to UTF-8 before uploading.
• Fragmented sentences. Merge sentences split across several keys into one value with placeholders. It is the only way to get a natural subject-object-verb order.
• Terms to keep. Product names, codes, technical terms: mark them non-translatable if your format allows, then check them in the free sample and in the delivered translation.
• Valid YAML. Run the source through your parser or a linter first: a syntax error in the source will carry over to the target.

Checking the Korean output

Use the free sample, one paragraph translated at your chosen level, to judge register first. Korean interfaces use either the formal 합니다 style (저장되었습니다) or the polite 요 style (저장했어요), and buttons often take a short noun form (저장, 삭제). Make sure the tone suits your product before paying.

After delivery:

1. rename the file to match your setup (ko.yml, messages.ko.yaml, i18n/ko.yaml) and confirm the root is ko:;
2. render strings with placeholders using one name ending in a consonant and one ending in a vowel, to catch a wrong particle;
3. read the report: a value left in the source language usually points to a variable or tag worth inspecting;
4. check line wrapping: Korean should break between word groups, not in the middle of a word.

In practice

1. Convert the file to UTF-8 and validate it with your YAML parser.
2. Upload it, choose Korean and a level: the quote appears straight away.
3. Review the free sample: register, particles after placeholders, counters.
4. Pay, then download the translated file and the report from your account.
5. Rename the file to ko, adjust date formats and test the display.