Is it easy to make 2 language versions for iPhone (Japanese)?

Question

I have a client who I am pricing an app for, however other than the English version they would also like a Japanese version. Has anyone had experience in a similar case, is there an easy way to do it? Do I need to create two versions, one English and one Japanese? If it were two Latin languages I could imagine it would be easier but Japanese write from top to bottom, right to left so this worries me.

Answer 1

Read the Apple documentation on internationalization. I don't think you should have many issues with Japanese (how else would they sell phones in Japan?)

Answer 2

You don't seem to know a lot about Japanese. They're perfectly accustomed to western-style left-right, top-down writing, especially due to the influence of computers. You can of course create separate views (views only, no need for separate apps) for Japanese that switch everything to top-down, right-left writing. But it's only a minority of apps that do that. In fact, the Daijirin Japanese-Japanese dictionary is the only example I know of.

Talk to your client what kind of Japanese localization he wants. Odds are, he just wants strings replaced. See @kelloti's answer.

As a general advise: Make sure you get a native translator/developer who can guide you in a good localization. Don't simply copy-paste in strings you get from somebody else that you have no idea how to even read. This only produces terribly localized versions.