ELL: Q: Computer Localization for Minority Languages

[Peter Constable]

On 09/21/2001 08:44:16 PM Eric Brunner-Williams wrote:

Eric has given some useful feedback. A few additional comments:


>> 3. Does anyone have any thoughts about developing localization
"modules" to
>> support minority languages? I already know that the audience for such a
>> product would be very small and specialized.
>
>If your charset is covered somewhere in the iso8859-* series (e.g.,
barred
>"l" for Dineh (Navajo) available from Polish), then fonts aren't your
main
>problem. If your charset isn't, e.g., syllabic forms for Cree, Inuktitut,
>etc., then fonts are a profound headache.

Whether or not fonts are an issue depends upon the platform and on the
nature of the script. On Windows, syllabic forms for Algonkian and Inuit
languages are definitely *NOT* a problem: the characters are in Unicode
3.0, and there are no complex rendering issues. There are Unicode-capable
versions of text-drawing APIs that can be used by any Windows app. If an
app encodes text in Unicode, then there isn't any font issue whatsoever.



- Peter


---------------------------------------------------------------------------
Peter Constable

Non-Roman Script Initiative, SIL International
7500 W. Camp Wisdom Rd., Dallas, TX 75236, USA
Tel: +1 972 708 7485
E-mail: <peter_constable at sil.org>
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