Re: [bug-gettext] [Translation-team-de] Swiss typography

[Vladimir 'φ-coder/phcoder' Serbinenko]

On 04.03.2012 15:41, Roland Stigge wrote:
> Hi Vladimir,
>
> thanks for your work on the script. While I fully appreciate your work
> on this piece of software, some of your notes called for my clarification:
First I'd like to make a small clarification myself: I don't propose to 
eliminate ß in all German translations, just a way to give Swiss users a 
spelling we're more accustomed to. AFAIR this spelling is codified. In 
any case it's the spelling used in a variety official sources as well as 
in publications. So it should be treated as another standard, like e.g. 
en_US and en_GB, not misspellings.
> On 29/02/12 23:08, Vladimir 'φ-coder/phcoder' Serbinenko wrote:
> > Presence of ß is a dead giveaway of German standard an,
> Since we both don't seem to be native english speakers, we need to be
> careful here. But as I understand it, your wording implies German being
> unnecessarily difficult.
>
> While this might actually be true :-) , I hope everyone involved in
> i18n+l10n can appreciate the differences in different natural languages,
> and the enrichment they bring to culture in general. Sometimes you even
> just haven't fully recognized some aspects of them.
Yes, and that's why I propose to recognise that the spelling in 
Switzerland is different and use Swiss spelling for de_CH.
> As an example, ...
>
> > more importanly, less comfortable to read.
> ... please note that in _current_ written German, the difference between
> ss and ß can even guide you how to pronounce certain words (within limits).
Not in Switzerland. Pronunciation is different here than in Germany and 
ß is pronounced just like ss. For more information you can check 
http://www.personal.uni-jena.de/~x1gape/Pub/Eszett_1997.pdf
> Please also note that the reasoning behind your above note is basically
> the same as in "for a Japanese, Korean is less comfortable to read".
Yes and that's why Japanese user will use LANGUAGE=ja_JP and can expect 
to have Japanese messages. Why can't Swiss user set LANGUAGE to de_CH 
and see the spelling used in Switzerland, while German user with 
LANGUAGE=de_DE or LANGUAGE=de will continue to see ß.
> Thanks for your work, and thanks for considering,
>
> Roland


--
Regards
Vladimir 'φ-coder/phcoder' Serbinenko