WorldServer - How do I get a leverage from a Translation Memory or TermDatabase that uses a generic locale (such as "fr") when using a non-generic locale (such a fr-FR)

In my WorldServer environment, I have used generic locales to perform translation such as fr, es, it etc.. Now I want to start using non-generic locale such as fr-FR, es-ES, it-IT etc.. My Translation Memories and my Term Databases contain only entries associated with those generic locales.

How can I leverage from my existing Translation Memory or Term Database when using new or non-generic locales? The same question is valid if I want to cross-leverage from languages with a different territory associated with them such as Spanish (Mexico), French (Canada) when my TM and my TD contain entries for Spanish (Spain) and French (France).

WorldServer Translation Memories and Term Databases support multiple locales.

Changing a locale - even if from a generic locale like fr to fr-FR or from a different territory such as fr-FR to fr-CA - is like using a different locale. This means that if you create a project with a new locale and associate it with a TM that does not have any entries for that locale yet, after translation, new entries with that new locale will be added to your Translation Memory. 

You cannot cross-leverage from a TM from one locale to another. So if - for example - your TM contains translations for locale French, your project with locale French-France will not leverage from that TM. 

If you want to start using a new locale such as fr-FR AND you want to be able to get leverage from an existing TM that includes translations with fr as a locale, you will need to do some TM maintenance first. The process is not difficult: 

1. Export the fr entries from your TM to a TMX file.
2. There are 2 ways to import back your TM in the desired source or target language:

- Follow the steps described in this article to import those entries to your new locale (fr-FR): Changing TMX Language Code for Import into WorldServer 
- Or follow the steps described in this article WorldServer - is it possible to get TM leverage between different flavours of the same language?

The same principle applies to your Term Databases:

1. Export the TD using any format, for instance, the Delimited File: Simple Format.
2. After export, import the same exported file back to your Term Database selecting the option Use import terms' statuses.
3. In step 3 of the import procedure, you have the option to select the Language associated with each locale. So for instance, for French, you could select French-France from the drop-down menu. 
4. After the import, your Term Database will include new entries for the language selected during the import process.

Relevant article:

WorldServer - is it possible to get TM leverage between different flavours of the same language?