Re: Lenny. Locales and Interface Language
Mark Goldshtein wrote:
> 1. Is a default system locale independent from an interface
> language? I mean, is it possible to change a default system
> locale to whatever I like and there will be no harm to English
> interface I have? [..]
It depends on what you mean by "changing the locale".
AFAIK the "locale" *mainly* determines the user interface.
Messages and prompts from programs, date and currency formats,
paper size (eg "Letter" for US locales), number format (e.g.
thousands separator is comma in some locales, period in others), etc.
Note that messages and prompts from programs for various locales
have to be provided by the programs themselves. If they are not,
messages, etc., will be provided in some default language
(invariably English). Also, it is up to the programs to pay
attention to the "locale"; if they do not, they will generate e.g.
numbers and dates according to the US convention.
So if you want to keep an English user interface, you have to keep
an English locale; but if you also want to read, input, and print
things in other languages than English, you should make sure that
your locale is a UTF-8 one, so you can handle all kinds of
languages and scripts. Examples: en_US.utf8, en_GB.utf8.
Regards, Jan
http://www.jw-stumpel.nl/stestu.html
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