Re: proposed question: which languages are RTL?

Andrew Cunningham wrote:

> The script is Syriac, but I suspect that you wouldn't call the language
> Syriac. You'd have Assyrian, Neo-Aramaic and probbaly a few others.
> 
> Is it worth noting that some languages can be written with more than one
> script, eg Malay, Swahili, Hausa, Berber languages, Kurdish (Sorani),
> etc. just pulling out a couple form your list?
> 
> Although of those, Kurdish is the onlyy one that is commonly found in
> multiple scripts.

Thanks for the comments.

1) OK on Syriac, I don't know much about it. I can replace the Syriac with
Assyrian and Neo-Aramaic in the language list and I'll see if I can research a
few others.

2)I think the point I made  in the background section about multiple scripts
with Yiddish, is sufficient for this Q. (Let me know if you think not.) But
"Can a language be written in more than one script?" would make a good
additional Q and the answer can list some of the more common languages that
have multiple scripts, along with the implications for web development of
perhaps having to support multiple scripts for a single language, or choosing
the right script. It should also be noted that the "preferred" script changes
from time to time.

Maybe an interesting point to make is that besides languages which can be
written in either one or another script is that some languages require
multiple scripts simultaneously such as Japanese with its Kanji, Hiragana and
Katakana. But if you are using Unicode, I am not sure that there are any
design decisions that need to be made. Prior to Unicode code page choices may
have been limiting.

tex

Received on Thursday, 10 July 2003 20:37:33 UTC