Locale En Nz
Use when working with the English (New Zealand) locale (`en-NZ`) — its endonym English (New Zealand), Latin script, left-to-right (LTR) direction, or spoken-population data. Reference data and translation guidance (register, grammar, idiom, typography) for this specific locale; see [[locale]] for general i18n/l10n concepts (BCP 47, plural rules, RTL) that apply across all locales.
Reference data for the English (New Zealand) locale — endonym English (New Zealand), written in the Latin script, left-to-right (LTR).
Identifiers
- BCP 47 tag:
en-NZ - ISO 639-1:
en - ISO 639-3:
eng - Script: Latn (Latin)
- Region: NZ (New Zealand)
- Text direction: ltr — left-to-right (LTR)
Speakers (approximate)
- L1 (native): 4,500,000
- L2 (additional): 500,000
- L1+L2 (total): 5,000,000
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 New Zealand conventions.
- Spelling: follows British forms: -ise, -our, -re; "program" is used for software.
- Dates and numbers: day/month/year ("17 October 2026"), decimal point and comma thousands separator, $ for the New Zealand dollar, metric units.
- Māori language: te reo Māori is an official language. Use macrons in Māori words ("Māori", "Aotearoa", "Wānanga") and keep Māori place names unaltered; avoid anglicized spellings ("Maori"). Do not italicize Māori words, which are part of New Zealand English.
- Tone: modest and friendly; understatement is typical, and overstating claims reads as insincere.
Common pitfalls
- Dropping macrons from Māori words or italicizing them.
- Using American spellings for a New Zealand audience.
- 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/)
- Te Aka Māori Dictionary (https://maoridictionary.co.nz) for correct spelling of Māori words