From khaisu@ugcs.caltech.edu Wed Nov 27 07:14:48 1996 Received: from envy.ugcs.caltech.edu (root@envy.ugcs.caltech.edu [131.215.128.135]) by dkuug.dk (8.6.12/8.6.12) with ESMTP id HAA03836 for ; Wed, 27 Nov 1996 07:14:46 +0100 Received: from nanigani.dabney.caltech.edu by envy.ugcs.caltech.edu with SMTP (8.7.5/UGCS:4.43) id WAA18164; Tue, 26 Nov 1996 22:13:33 -0800 (PST) Message-ID: <329BDC19.5D6C@ugcs.caltech.edu> Date: Tue, 26 Nov 1996 22:13:45 -0800 From: TE Khai-su Reply-To: khaisu@ugcs.caltech.edu Organization: California Institute of Technology X-Mailer: Mozilla 3.0Gold (Win95; I) MIME-Version: 1.0 To: iso10646@listproc.hcf.jhu.edu CC: i18n@dkuug.dk, Chung-chieh Shan Subject: Re: ISO 639 (Language Codes) update status References: <9611270524.AA15808@socrate.riq.qc.ca> Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit Alain LaBont/e'/ wrote: > [Alain] : > This is one of the reasons why this 3-letter code was never agreed as an > international standard and is prahps not agreeable, as it is sensitive > matter. The two letter codes would be incompatible... What would be the link > between "de" and GER" or between "es" and "SPA" ? I was trying to keep track of what's going on with ISO 639-2. Now that it is pushed aside, I am sad. 639-1 would not be able to contain all the languages (if it ever intended to do so) for 26^2 = 676, and I think that even with a definition of the strictest threshold, there are more than 676 languages on this planet. > [Alain] : > I would agree with using the IPA (international phonetic alphabet) to > simplify. In the meanwhile, if ASCII is the restriction then we should use, > as a more international compromise, the abbreviation of the transliterated > form of the name of the language in that language and in case of rare > collisions use other abbreviated forms for one of the matching occurrences > such as (XX1, XX2, and so on). Otherwise it is too much anglocentric. Indeed. I am looking forward to a 3-letter code (ISO 646 is probably a decent compromise, and 26^3 = 17 576), as mnemonic in the represented language as possible. This should not be so hard to do. Would anyone more familiar with the ongoings of ISO 639 (639-1 and 639-2) kindly inform us the status of these standards? -- hlo: TE3, Khai2-su7 | hak: TAI4, Khai3-si4 http://nanigani.caltech.edu