How to Display Time in Different Languages Using Java

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The DateFormat class allows you to format dates and times based on locale-specific settings in Java. You can use this class to display time and date in different languages by specifying a Locale object.

Displaying Time in Different Languages

To display time in different languages, you can use the DateFormat class in combination with the Locale class to format the time according to the desired language and region.

Locale class: The Locale class provides information about a specific geographic, political, or cultural region. It helps in formatting data such as numbers, dates, and currencies according to a specific locale.

DateFormat class: The DateFormat class provides methods to format and parse dates in a language-sensitive manner, allowing you to represent dates and times according to different locales.

getDateInstance() method: The getDateInstance() method is a static method of the DateFormat class that returns an instance of DateFormat for formatting the date according to a specific locale.

Steps to Display Time in Different Languages

The following are the steps to display time in different languages

Step 1. Create a Date object: This creates a Date object holding the current date and time.

Date d1 = new Date();

Step 2. Print the current date and time: Display the current date and time using the default format.

System.out.println("today is " + d1.toString());

Step 3. Create a Locale for Italian: Initialize a Locale object for the Italian language.

Locale locItalian = new Locale("it");

Step 4. Create a DateFormat instance for full date format in Italian: Use DateFormat.getDateInstance() to create a date formatter in full format using the Italian locale.

DateFormat df = DateFormat.getDateInstance(DateFormat.FULL, locItalian);

Step 5. Format and print the date in Italian: Format the current date in Italian and print it.

System.out.println("today is " + df.format(d1));

Java Program to Display Time in Different Languages

The following example uses the DateFormat class to display time in Italian

import java.text.DateFormat;
import java.util.*;

public class Main {
   public static void main(String[] args) throws Exception {
      Date d1 = new Date();
      System.out.println("today is "+ d1.toString()); 
      Locale locItalian = new Locale("it");
      DateFormat df = DateFormat.getDateInstance (DateFormat.FULL, locItalian);
      System.out.println("today is "+ df.format(d1));
   }
}

Output

today is Mon Dec 09 07:08:38 GMT 2024
today is luned? 9 dicembre 2024

Code Explanation

The program first creates a Date object (d1) representing the current date and time. Then, we create a Locale object for the Italian language (it). The DateFormat.getDateInstance(DateFormat.FULL, locItalian) method retrieves a DateFormat instance that formats the date according to the Italian language's full date format. Finally, the df.format(d1) method is used to format the current date (d1).