Re: Use of American/British English (was Re: request for string addition)

[Keld Jørn Simonsen <keld dkuug dk>]

On Mon, Feb 23, 2004 at 01:14:54AM +0000, jamie wrote:
> 
> > 
> > > I'd also like to note that the use of British English [1] should not (and
> > > I don't think does) hamper the ability of the i18n team to translate into
> > > different languages.
> > 
> > Consider translation memory tools. If I wrote my software assuming Aussie
> > English, you wrote yours for British English, and Jody wrote his using
> > Canadian/Quebecian Frenglish, anyone who used translation memory tools would
> > very unhappy with us all.
> 
> "Franglais" aside, Am I right in thinking that all non-US english
> variants have the same spellings for everyday words (slang excluded of
> course)? 
> 
> Whilst US english was allegedly misspelled on purpose after their war of
> independence in a "we are not British" protest, I dont recall Aussie
> words being spelt differently or at least having a reason to spell them
> differently (maybe they have a reason now that we Brits have won the
> Rugby World Cup in Australia :) )

Given that most "English" speaking countries use the British spelling,
would it not be most convenient if we use British English as the source
language for po files? In that way we can minimize the need for
translations for many locales. Only one locale needs to be translated, 
namely for the en_US locale.

Furthermore I believe more developers know how to spell British English,
as this is what normally is taught in school all over Europe, India, 
Australia, Canada and other places. I think US english is only taught in
the USA. Maybe also in Mexico, South America and Japan?
What is taught in China?

Best regards
keld