Re: ikedjane tamazight ISO 639-3 :tzm

["Roozbeh Pournader" <roozbeh gmail com>]

On Sat, Oct 4, 2008 at 4:02 AM, khaled habhoub <xalidus2 gmail com> wrote:
> i am trying to translate GNOME to general berber but ihave not found it's
> iso code

Don't use "tzm" then. "tzm" is only for Central Moroccan Tamazight.

The situation is like this: ISO 639-2 considers Berber to be a family
of languages, not one language. It has codes for the following three
languages in the family:
* kab: Kabyle
* tmh: Tamashek
* zen: Zenaga
Then, for the rest, it has "ber", for "Berber (Other)". ISO 639-3 has
codes for some of the languages in this "(Other)" part.

I guess I can help you in finding the best code for your target
language. I have a few questions:

Do you plan to provide a single Berber/Tamazight translation of GNOME
to be used by all Kabyle, Tamashek, Zenaga, Tashelhiyt, Tarifit,
Chaouia, etc speakers? Something that would be usable by Berber
speakers all over North Africa? If yes, please tell me a little about
it. Is there a standard Berber language? Is it understandable in
written form by all educated people speaking the above
langauges/dialects? Would it be written in Tifinagh, Latin, or Arabic?
It would also be great if you tell me which Berber language/dialect
you speak yourself.

Best,
Roozbeh