Abstract: A globalization system for processing data in a multiple-locale or multilingual environment. A range of functionality is provided through various classes and interfaces that can be associated with subsystems running in the environment. These interfaces and classes provide for the development of subsystems (i.e., applications, servers, adapters, and so forth) that are independent of knowledge of languages and data formats of a particular locale. A locale associated with various data can be used to dynamically configure information. A normalization capability is also provided for standardizing the representation of data coming into a processing domain from various locales.