"I18n" is a terrible, lazy abbreviation for "internationalization."
(And the same goes for its bastard step-child, "l10n" for "localization.")
The term 'i18n' uses the number 18 to stand for the 18 lazily omitted
letters, if the word was the English word 'internationalization.'
If in Italy, do you type i20e for 'internazionalizzazione'? Or
if in Germany, do you type i19g for 'Internationalisierung'?
What do you type in kanji?
Internationalization, by its very nature, is the process of making
things LESS tied to a particular language or culture or idiom. Conversely,
by its very nature, the term 'i18n' is tied to a particular language,
culture, AND idiom. It's stupid and counter to its own goals.
Learn to type, or make a keyboard macro, if it matters so much to you.