Re: Use of American/British English (was Re: request for string addition)

[Adam Weinberger <adamw FreeBSD org>]

>> (02.20.2004 @ 0734 PST): Christian Rose said, in 4.3K: <<
> fre 2004-02-20 klockan 01.19 skrev Bastien Nocera:
> > > ² I think "behavior" should be spelled without the "u" with American
> > > English spelling, and Merriam-Webster seems to support that theory
> > > (http://www.m-w.com/cgi-bin/dictionary?book=Dictionary&va=behavior). And
> > > source messages should use American English spellings according to the
> > > GNU/GNOME standards.
> > 
> > Urgh.
> > 
> > Allow me to reply to the footnotes (once in a while, it's interesting).
> > 
> > There's nothing in the GNU/GNOME standards (if such a thing exists)
> > saying which language should be used as the base ("C") language for
> > programs. While it's commonly accepted that it should be in English, so
> > that translators can work from it, there is nothing saying which flavour
> > of the English language should be used.
> >
> > I think that the help message above should be in American English,
> > because the rest of the program is in American English (use of "Trash",
> > etc.). The programs I write are all in British English as the "C"
> > language, and it's going to change over my dead body.
> 
> 3. Any other British spellings still can be, and are, provided by
> translations. We've had a British/Commonwealth English team in the GTP
> for a *very* long time, and just this week a Canadian English team
> started aswell!
>> end of "Use of American/British English (was Re: request for string addition)" from Christian Rose <<

Sorry to all who raise an eyebrow at me jumping in on discussions this
early, but this is something that I've been thinking about as I've been
making the en_CA translations:

As it currently stands, with some source strings including "behaviour,"
there is no American English translation.

Instead, there are applications that, by default, use "color" and
"behaviour," and I am not aware of any location in the world where that
will provide a set of proper (common) spellings.

What makes sense to me is that applications come with one language or
another in the source strings. But as it currently stands, where there
are some British spellings and some American spellings in the same file,
those applications will feel "at home" to no location.


If I misunderstood the topic, and it's actually about the use of
"behaviour" at all, and the issue is whether default translations can be
in British English: Is there anything wrong with asking that Americans
make an en_US translation if they want it?

$0.02 (CAD$40.00)

# Adam


--
Adam Weinberger
adam@vectors.cx // adamw@FreeBSD.org // adamw@magnesium.net
http://www.vectors.cx