Language switcher applet

[Ross Golder <ross golder org>]

I now use GNOME from day-to-day in my secondary language (Thai). I've
found it has helped me practice reading/typing Thaiscript (a non-Roman
alphabet) and is improving my Thai vocabulary. However, from
time-to-time I come across a translated error message (in Thai) that I
don't understand (yet!). Wouldn't it be great if I could switch the
displayed language of all the GNOME applications on the screen with a
language switcher applet, as easily as you can switch the keyboard
layout between US and Thai (and British when I need a pound sign!). Not
only would it let me get on quicker, but it would also help me improve
my language skills, as I could spend a moment each time I get stuck
flicking between the two languages and learn the words and the meaning
of the phrases without having to resort to the dictionary :)

I can think of tons of cases where this feature would be useful and it
would be yet another cool feature that all the other desktops don't have
(yet, afaik). So, I'm just wondering if it can be done and what would be
involved.

Has this kind of thing been discussed before somewhere/sometime? If so,
where? How feasible is it? What mechanisms would need to be put in place
for it to work? Can a program be made to change its LANG, regather it's
translations and relabel all it's widgets on the fly easily enough?
Could it work in a similar way to how changing the GTK+ theme notifies
all the running GNOME apps?

Answers, dammit! :)

--
Ross