[Theforum] Re: [Admin] Re: langs (was: 17320)

[spinhead]

I know some folks who publish in over 200 languages. When they publish in
Spanish, they make it rather formal, but the same version is used in all
Spanish speaking countries. Same for English; US, UK, Oz; all the same.
Where languages are different, they're different (Solomon Islands Pidgin
isn't the same as New Guinea Pidgin) but otherwise, if you avoid too much
colloqialism you can make it work across national boundaries.

spinhead


----- Original Message -----
From: "Martin" <martin at members.evolt.org>
To: "theforum" <theforum at lists.evolt.org>
Sent: Monday, November 12, 2001 11:05 PM
Subject: RE: [Theforum] Re: [Admin] Re: langs (was: 17320)


> Madhu Menon wrote on 13/11/01 7:52 am
>
> >Agreed. German is spoken in many countries, including Germany and
Austria.
> >French is spoken in France, Algeria, and Vietnam. Spanish is the official
> >language in 21 countries. English is... well, you get the idea.
> >
> >Instead, we should simply list the language by its name, like "Español",
> >"Français", etc.
>
> And is that Quebecois Français, or Français as spoken in the Elysee
> Palace?
> And is that Español as spoken in Spain, or that spoken in the other
> 20 countries?
>
> And does it matter? Are they different enough to be significant?
>
> Conventional wisdom says 'yes', but I don't know. In Gaelic it
> does make a difference between Scots Gaelic and Irish. They're
> more divergent than (say) UK, US and Australian English.
> (although I would like a territory-appropriate lang
> setting for the benefit of screenreaders, particularly where
> an article is clearly in UK English)
> But I don't have enough Spanish or French to know if
> that's the case there.
>
> Cheers
> Martin
>
> _______________________________________________
> email: martin at easyweb.co.uk             PGP ID: 0xA835CCCB
>        martin at members.evolt.org      snailmail: 30 Shandon Place
>   tel: +44 (0)774 063 9985                      Edinburgh,
>   url: http://www.easyweb.co.uk                 Scotland
>