1. A method of independently configuring international location and language in a computer system, comprising the steps of: (1) selecting a location and a language combination; (2) determining whether the selected combination is supported by an existing default locale; and (3) if the selected combination is not supported by a default locale, generating a composite locale for specifying output formats consistent with the selected combination, comprising the steps of (a) identifying a first default locale which employs formatting data for the selected location; (b) identifying a second default locale which employs formatting data for the selected language; and (c) automatically generating the composite locale for the selected combination from the first and second default locales.