Re: [tlug] Install languages

["Stephen J. Turnbull" <stephen@example.com>]

Thomas writes:

 > In general they are not very exotic:
 > *    choosing English as system language while living in Japan
 > *    changing keyboard layouts
 > *    installing language packs (incl. dictionaries etc.)
 > *    enabling Japanese input            etc.
 > 
 > But maybe the OS views these things differently.

Indeed it does.  The problem is that Unix (AT&T and the POSIX
standard) chose to make things easier for the implementers (the Worse
Is Better" theory[1]), which has worked really well for Unix (and its
successors, like Linux and FreeBSD) in general.  But POSIX locales
effectively assume that users and applications are monolingual.

And Japan, with its 5 encodings for Japanese in common use, as well as
Japanese software developers' ethnocentricity which made it very
difficult for internationalizers to learn the lessons that the
Japanese have had drilled into them by their IT environment over the
decades, is the worst possible case for POSIX.

That's not your fault, of course, but seriously, get help.  Stop
whacking yourself with that hammer.  If you're not *very* clued in on
this stuff, find somebody who is, or at least substantially more than
you, and have them around when you do the install (or even have them
do it).