Frank Lesser <Frank-Lesser at Lesser-Software.com> said:
>The AW: problem has a lot of more aspects:
>
[...] Hey, I'm the first one to agree with that. But I do think that there's
nothing unreasonable with using 'AW:' instead of 'Re:' (even if it's latin,
AFAIK it is only common in English countries, probably just because it matches
nicely with Reply and Regarding).

>MS-Office's macro languages are regionalized:
>	Try to run an office-macro, written in a German office version -
>which contains "WENN" instead of "if".
>
Even there, there's something to say for it. 

Flashback to something on-topic. Zzziiiipp. Ah, found it: Squeak
internationalisation.

Goal: make Squeak accessible to elementary school kids.
Fact: the vast majority of elementary school kids on this globe doesn't speak English.

Think of translating SqueakToys. Where do you stop? SqueakToys, IMHO, is an
onion skin which you can slowly peel of layer by layer to get exposed to
Smalltalk lurking below. Somewhere, you have to make a decision about what's
translatable 'data' ("Go" as a label on a button) and what's untranslatable
'code' (ifTrue:ifFalse - now, are we going to translate that with
indienWaar:indienNietwaar: or wennWahr:wennNichtwahr: ?). 

Apparently, Microsoft has taken the stance that the average office user in
Germany will be confused by English in the macros. It has a history in
Germany, like a fully German operating system called BS2000. It has a history
in the Netherlands as well, Philips had a similar thing in the '80s. In this
case, I wouldn't attribute to malice that what can be adequately explained by
philosophy.

-- 
Cees de Groot               http://www.cdegroot.com     <cg at cdegroot.com>
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