Re: Internationalization: How to bring the locale in line

FROM : Uli Zappe
DATE : Fri Nov 05 20:53:20 2004

Am 05.11.2004 um 14:03 schrieb Clark Cox:
> For another point of view: I am a native English speaker, but I often
> run programs in German or Japanese in order to keep my comprehension
> in those languages sharp. However, I have my number formatting set to
> typical English settings (with minor variations), and my date format
> set to YYYY/MM/DD (i.e. not the norm if America). I want those
> formatting settings to be used, regardless of the language I am
> reading; even when reading German text, I feel more comfortable with
> one thousand being "1,000". I suggesst that whatever you choose to do,
> at least default to honouring the system-wide setting.


I think that exactly points out the difference:

What you do is consciously choose another language, being well aware
that your preferred formats do not change with it.

But English is *not* the language I explicitly choose on my computer;
it's the pervasive "fall-back" language in case nothing else is
available, and most often this *includes* the format settings.

In this time and age, whatever else you are accustomed to, you must
know English number formats to survive, anyway, and simply by
experience, it's what you will expect in an English context that you
didn't explicitly choose but that is "computer/internet esperanto".

In an ideal virtual world, where every application would be localized
and the GUI language was always my conscious choice, you would
certainly be right. In the real world, IMHO you are not.

           Bye
                   Uli
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