Locale En Jm

Reference data for the English (Jamaica) locale — endonym English (Jamaica), written in the Latin script, left-to-right (LTR).

Identifiers

• BCP 47 tag: en-JM
• ISO 639-1: en
• ISO 639-3: eng
• Script: Latn (Latin)
• Region: JM (Jamaica)
• Text direction: ltr — left-to-right (LTR)

Speakers (approximate)

• L1 (native): 2,500,000
• L2 (additional): 200,000
• L1+L2 (total): 2,700,000

Base locale

This is a regional variant of Locale En 001 (English), the base/macro locale for this language.

Pluralization

CLDR plural categories for this locale: one, other (2 forms).

• one — i = 1 and v = 0 (e.g. 1)
• other — everything else (e.g. 0, 2~16, 100, 1000, …)

See Unicode Messageformat for writing plural messages using these categories.

Translating into this locale

Apply Locale En 001 and use these Jamaican conventions. Standard Jamaican English is written in British-influenced forms, and Jamaican Patois is a separate creole with its own orthography.

• Spelling: British forms (-ise, -our, -re).
• Dates and numbers: day/month/year, decimal point and comma thousands separator, J$ for the Jamaican dollar where clarity is needed.
• Patois: do not write Patois spelling for effect in standard English copy; if Patois is needed, use the Cassidy-JLU orthography or the target publication's convention.
• Tone: warm and conversational, with formality for official text.

Common pitfalls

• Representing Patois phonetically with invented spellings.
• Using US spellings in Jamaican official material.
• The general pitfalls in Locale En 001 also apply.

Learn more

• Locale for BCP 47 identifiers, locale-sensitive formatting, pluralization, and text-direction concepts that apply across all locales.
• Unicode Messageformat for writing plural/selection messages correctly for this locale's grammar.
• Microsoft Writing Style Guide (https://learn.microsoft.com/style-guide/welcome/)
• Dictionary of Jamaican English (Cassidy and Le Page)