[sword-devel] language/locale codes

[Eeli Kaikkonen]

On Thu, 12 Nov 2009, Peter von Kaehne wrote:

> I am not sure were can call either approach really "wrong" - they are
> different and have different advantages.
>
> The main problem with Xiphos approach is as Chris rightly states with
> languages which are so dead and extinct that no one would even recognise
> their names in the language.
>
> The main problem with your approach is that many languages are not even
> named in some of the languages we have interfaces now. When I translated
>  BibleDesktop into Farsi (which uses your suggested approach) I found
> that I came rapidly to the end of my (extensive) dictionaries and was
> left clueless what to do next. Transliterating the names seemed wrong,
> leaving them in English when everything else is translated seemed wrong
> too.

Your'e right. Still I prefer our approach. I have translated quite many
language names into Finnish. There surely are languages which don't have
Finnish names, but I don't see it as a huge problem. Most of those names
don't make any difference if they are left untranslated, because they
would be almost or exactly the same as in English.

BTW, what do linguists do when they want to discuss about a language
which doesn't have a name translated into the language of discussion,
especially if the foreign language uses different script? Or do
scholarly articles use only the native names? I guess linguists want to
talk about languages they don't actually know.

If a language has the name is in its native script in UI the user may
have no clue what it is.  I very much prefer being able to find out with
google or something than being left in darkness. And please don't tell
me I don't have to know if I can't read the script or the native
language (this is one of the arguments we have heard in a previous
discussion about this same subject long time ago).

I have to admit it's greater problem for UI languages with non-latin
scripts. Then there would be mixed latin and other scripts in UI, unless
translator has transcribed the names.

But if the common list has both native and English names, each frontend
can of course choose what to do. If our users complain, I'm ready to
discuss about changing our choice.

  Yours,
	Eeli Kaikkonen (Mr.), Oulu, Finland
	e-mail: eekaikko at mailx.studentx.oulux.fix (with no x)