9

Similar to this, but different question: International Currency Formatting Guidelines — Currency Codes

Wondering if currency formats are locale or currency dependent. For instance, if I wanted to display USD on a page in the French language (fr_FR), would I write $123.50 or 123,50 $? Similarly, if I wanted to display Euros to a person in English (en_EN) would I write €123.50 or 123,50 €?

I found this showing how euro currency format changes throughout locales: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Linguistic_issues_concerning_the_euro#Summary

But so far I've only seen a definitive answer for the Euro.

Improve this question

1 Answer 1

Reset to default
5

They are neither language nor currency dependent, at least not solely. They are locale specific, which is a combination of language and location. So the best UX is to not rely on language alone, but check the user's locale and format the currency according to their preferred formatting. In your example of displaying USD to a French user, check what kind of French first (from France, Canada, Mali, etc?) and use the appropriate formatting for that specific locale. For a French user from France I think that would be 123,50 $

Improve this answer
3
  • 2
    Are there any references to back this up?
    – Jason
    May 21, 2015 at 13:51
  • 1
    For such a generic use case it's common sense. To be more precise you would have to be more specific about how the page is used. Who are the users and what are their tasks? Are they shopping for themselves or are they entering receipts? Do they deal with multiple different currencies on the same page or is everything the same?
    – illuminaut
    May 21, 2015 at 20:52
  • @illuminaut Something similar I want to ask. In indonesia people understand 10,000,00.00 as 10.000.00,00. So, if a person has locale id-id, it should be 10.000.00,00, but what if its en-id? People will understand 10,000,00.00 , but the libraries return 10.000.00,00.
    – Vivek Vardhan
    Jan 17, 2017 at 7:07

Your Answer

By clicking “Post Your Answer”, you agree to our terms of service and acknowledge you have read our privacy policy.

Not the answer you're looking for? Browse other questions tagged or ask your own question.