Android App Localization Example

Demonstrates automated localization for Android strings.xml resource files using Lingo.dev CLI and GitHub Actions.

Full walkthrough: lingo.dev/en/guides/android-app-localization

What's inside

• app/src/main/res/values/strings.xml - source strings (English)
• app/src/main/res/values-en - symlink to values/ (see below)
• i18n.json - Lingo.dev CLI configuration
• .github/workflows/translate.yml - GitHub Actions workflow

Why the symlink?

Android stores default strings in values/ (no locale suffix), but target locales go in values-es/, values-fr/, etc. The CLI config uses values-[locale]/strings.xml and resolves [locale] literally - so it looks for values-en/strings.xml as the source. The symlink values-en -> values bridges Android's convention with the CLI's pattern.

Quick start

1. Fork this repo
2. Add LINGODOTDEV_API_KEY to Settings > Secrets and variables > Actions
3. Push a change to source strings in strings.xml
4. Translations appear automatically via commit to main

How it works

The Lingo.dev CLI reads the source strings.xml, identifies new or changed entries using a lockfile, translates the delta through a configured localization engine, and writes per-locale files into values-[locale]/ directories. The GitHub Actions workflow runs this on every push to main.

Locales

• Source: en
• Targets: es, fr, de, ja

Links

• Guide: Android App Localization with strings.xml
• Lingo.dev CLI docs
• GitHub Actions integration
• Create a free account