localizeReader is a function that helps provides a standard way to read a resource based on a culture. It takes the object to find the value for and the culture. It will first look for the specific culture ("de-DE"), then fallback to the neutral culture ("de"), then to a default version, then pick the first in the object. It works for objects as…

gistfile1.js

var localizeReader = exports;
(function (localizeReader) {
    localizeReader.get = function(obj, culture){
        var c = (!culture) ? 'default': culture;
        if(obj[c] !== undefined) return obj[c];
        c = c.split('-')[0];
        if(obj[c] !== undefined) return obj[c];
        for (var prop in obj) {
            return obj[prop];
        }
    }
})(localizeReader || (localizeReader = {}));

gistfile2.js

//the object to test must be in the following format - PLEASE NOTE IT IS NOT AN ARRAY
// { "CULTURE", object }

var tests = {
    "default": { name: "default", message: "This is the default result" },
    "de-DE": { name: "de-DE", message: "This is the specific culture version de-DE" },
    "de": { name: "de", message: "This is the neutral culture version de" }
};


//require the function (node.js example)
var localizeReader = require('./localizeReader');


//show specific culture
console.log("show specific culture");
console.log(localizeReader.get(tests, 'de-DE'));
//show neutral culture
console.log("show neutral culture");
console.log(localizeReader.get(tests, 'de'));
//show empty culture
console.log("show empty culture");
console.log(localizeReader.get(tests, ''));
//show null culture
console.log("show null culture");
console.log(localizeReader.get(tests));
//show missing culture
console.log("show missing culture");
console.log(localizeReader.get(tests, 'de-AT'));