Ben Wing <ben(a)666.com> writes:
<preeve type="pet">
Implementing message translation is not that hard.
No, it is in fact very hard to do correctly. The problem is what do
when a software (system) is only partially localized.
(y-or-n-p "Möchten Sie alle Daten nicht Löschen?")
Möchten Sie alle Daten nicht Löschen?(y or n) j
Please answer y or n. Möchten Sie alle Daten nicht Löschen?(y or n)
So we localize y-or-n-p. However then the user installs some software
that is in English only.
(yes-or-no-p "Are you sure you are sure?")
Are you sure you are sure? (ja oder nein) yes
Bitte antworten Sie mit "ja" oder "nein". Are you sure you are sure?
(ja oder nein)
And if you think that these confusions are just harmless then please
aware that in Greek "ne" means yes! (In Dutch "nee" means no and is
pronounced the about same as the Greek word, so this kind of confusion
also exists in the real word).
I thought the main lesson we have learned from the past is that it
easy to think i18n, l10m, m17m, w13n is easy[1], but it isn't.
</peeve>
Jan
Footnotes:
[1] Why is y2k a problem, but c2y and p3e are not?