Re: bilingual websites

> If your primary language was Welsh and a browser was available in Welsh,
> what would *you* pick?

Sorry Chris, you picked the wrong person, my primary language is French and
I use an English browser :). I would agree that most French people would
pick a French browser because most softwares (including the OSs) are
available in French.

Now, correct me if I'm wrong but:
* I do not believe there is either a Welsh version of Windows or Mac OS.
* Most softwares are not available in Welsh.
* The vast majority (>90%) of Welsh speaker are bilingual English + Welsh.

Hence my assumption that, just as the rest of their softwares, most Welsh
users are probably using an English browsers. That may be an assumption that
Christopher Williams can verify just by checking is web log :).

The point is that the browser preference is not totally reliable if it
indicates English but should be reliable if it says Welsh.

Cheers,
Thierry.






----- Original Message -----
From: "Chris Lilley" <chris@w3.org>
To: "Thierry Sourbier" <webmaster@i18ngurus.com>
Cc: <www-international@w3.org>
Sent: Tuesday, October 30, 2001 3:02 PM
Subject: Re: bilingual websites


>
>
> Thierry Sourbier wrote:
> >
> > > > Therefore in the present
> > > > case the ACCEPT_LANGUAGE will be useless in most of the cases.
> > >
> > > Not so. Besides, UI localization and content localization are
different.
> > >
> >
> > Sorry my email was not clear. My assumption is that that in Chris' case
only
> > a tiny fraction of the Welsh user base will indeed use a browser
generating
> > an HTTP request asking for a Welsh page (The method I presented took
> > actually those lucky users into account). The rest of the Welsh users
will
> > have HTTP request asking for English... that's not much help.
> >
> > This situation occurs because it is rare that Welsh is set as the
factory
> > default preferred language (unless the vast majority of Welsh speakers
use
> > browsers such as Opera :).
>
> If your primary language was Welsh and a browser was available in Welsh,
> what would *you* pick?
>
> Of course, if you spoke English and also some Welsh, that is a different
> case. But then, that is why Accept-Language is a list with quality
> factors.
>
> --
> Chris
>
>

Received on Tuesday, 30 October 2001 10:36:36 UTC