Skills on AI

Locale Mg 001

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Use when working with the Malagasy locale (`mg-001`) — its endonym Malagasy, 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 Malagasy locale — endonym Malagasy, written in the Latin script, left-to-right (LTR).

Identifiers

  • BCP 47 tag: mg-001
  • ISO 639-1: mg
  • ISO 639-3: mlg
  • Script: Latn (Latin)
  • Region: 001 (World)
  • Text direction: ltr — left-to-right (LTR)

Speakers (approximate)

  • L1 (native): 25,000,000
  • L2 (additional): 2,000,000
  • L1+L2 (total): 27,000,000

Pluralization

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

  • one — n = 0..1 (e.g. 0, 1)
  • other — everything else (e.g. 2~17, 100, 1000, 10000, …)

See Unicode Messageformat for writing plural messages using these categories.

Translating into this locale

Malagasy is an Austronesian language spoken in Madagascar and is an official language there with French. It is written in the Latin script with a standard based on the Merina dialect, maintained by the Akademia Malagasy. This guidance is lower-confidence; have a native reviewer check it.

Translate ideas, not words.

  • Malagasy uses verb-object-subject order (VOS): the verb comes first, then the object, then the subject. Rework English sentences accordingly.
  • The verb carries a voice system (active, passive, circumstantial) with prefixes that mark tense (m- for present, n- for past, h- or ho for future). Choose the voice that matches the topic of the sentence.
  • French influence is strong in administration and technology; prefer established Malagasy coinages where they exist.
  • Re-express idioms and proverbs (ohabolana) by meaning; Malagasy culture values proverbs and indirect speech.

Register.

  • Malagasy has respectful forms: "ianao" and "hianao" (you) differ in politeness, and "tompoko" is a polite address (sir/madam). Titles and kinship terms are used for elders. Customer-facing text is polite and indirect.

Orthography and typography.

  • The alphabet has 21 letters, and the letter "o" is pronounced like "u". Follow the Akademia Malagasy for spelling.
  • Currency: ariary (Ar), written after the amount. Dates "17 Oktobra 2026"; decimal comma in many formats; check CLDR mg.

Common pitfalls

  • Using French word order or French loanwords where Malagasy terms exist.
  • Using English subject-verb-object order.
  • Using the wrong voice or tense prefix.

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.
  • Akademia Malagasy
  • Unicode CLDR locale data for mg (https://cldr.unicode.org)

View locale-mg-001/SKILL.md on GitHub