Just changing the user-visible string in an app is the usual way to go 
for multi-lingual applications.  I was once teaching Scheme to some
Japanese-speaking clients (with the help of a translator -- aargh)
I showed them VisualWorks... particularly that they could use kanji for 
methods, variables, etc, without the compiler barfing.  They seemed 
surprised.

Still, even within an English speaking community of programmers, it
seems difficult (boring/not done) to actually get a *lot* of consistency 
amongst Smalltalk developers on interfaces/message-semantics.
Huzzah to X3J20 for even trying. Perhaps this is the price we pay for 
dynamic typing.

Like VW, dynamic typing is expensive, but worth it :-)

-- Mike

mklein at alumni.caltech.edu