- From: Richard Ishida <ishida@w3.org>
- Date: Tue, 24 Nov 2009 21:00:00 -0000
- To: "'CE Whitehead'" <cewcathar@hotmail.com>, <www-international@w3.org>
> -----Original Message----- > From: CE Whitehead [mailto:cewcathar@hotmail.com] > Sent: 12 October 2009 19:53 > To: ishida@w3.org; www-international@w3.org > Subject: RE: Article for wide review: Choosing a language tag > > > > Hi, I've read all but the last two sections (on private use and grandfathered > subtags) of "Choosing a Language Tag" > > ( http://www.w3.org/International/questions/qa-choosing-language-tags); > > most of my comments are on the English, although a few are on content: > > > > > * * * > > > > > > Answer to Question at top, "Which language tag is . . . ?", par 4 > (ORDER/ORGANIZATION) > > > > "Particular thanks are due to Addison Phillips and Mark Davis, authors of BCP > 47, for help in producing this article." > > > > { COMMENT: this is not really part of the answer to the above question > although Mark Davis and Addison Phillips have worked hard on BP 47; > If Mark and Addison have worked hard on the whole article, this should be > moved to near the top of the article, immediately following the opening > paragraph, and before the first question is presented!} > > > > Answer to Question at top, "Which language tag is . . . ?" par 7, last sentence > (ENGLISH) > > Moved it rather than tried to explain why I put it there. > > "Your search will have matched against the Description field. Check that the > type of this record is language. What you are looking for is the value in the > Subtag field, ie. fr." > > > { COMMENT: I would have liked to have seen at least single quotation marks > around 'fr'. I prefer to keep with the current approach, used throughout the article. > Also, is it clear from the last sentence that 'fr' is going to be used in the > language tag?? I think it is, if you read the earlier text. > >= "The language tag is formed using the value in the subtag field, which is > 'fr'." > } > > > > Answer to Question at top, "Which language tag is . . . ?", par 8, sentence 1 > (ENGLISH) > > > > "The rest of this article will provide advice for choosing primary language > and possibly other types of subtag. Note that not all the decisions about how > to create a language tag are straightforward. There are circumstances where > usage will dictate which of various possibilities you should follow." > > > > { COMMENT: Because there may be more than one subtag following the > primary language subtag in a language tag, I think "subtags" should be > plural; > also I think that "primary language subtag" might benefit from a definite > article since there is one primary language subtag"--thus it is in some sense > specific > > > >= > "The rest of this article will provide advice for choosing the primary language > and possibly other types of subtags." > } Changed to The rest of this article will provide advice for choosing primary language subtags and, where needed, other types of subtag. > > > > Answer to Question at top, "Which language tag is . . . ?", par 9 CONTENT > > > "There are tools available which provide additional help while searching the > registry, such as Richard Ishida's Language Subtag Lookup tool." > > > {COMMENT: this could be more specific (we just discussed these at ietf- > languages): > > > > for example, > > >= "There are tools which search through a copy of the registry for a > particular description, etc. . . . " > > You might even go on to say, "a reasonably up-to-date copy of the > registry. . ." My tool provides more help than just searching for a particular description > > } > > > * * * > Decision 1, par 2, first bullet CONTENT > > > > "'Often it is not clear which language identifier to use. For example, what > most people call Punjabi in Pakistan actually has the code 'lah', and formal > name 'Lahnda'.'" > > > > {COMMENTS: > ??? As you note in your utlity > http://rishida.net/utils/subtags/index.php?find=&lookup=lah&submit=Look+ > up&list=0&check= > > 'lah' (lahnda) is a macrolanguage and punjabi as used in Pakistan can get a > more specific subtag! > ?? or am I confused; lahnda is used widely and not just in Pakistan; punjabi or > western panjabi is only used in Pakistan; several other varieties of lahnda are > used in Pakistan however but these are not called Punjabi? So is this the best > example?? > > Another example might be Persian-Farsi-Dari: if you search for 'Persian,' you > want a specific language subtag, 'pes' probably (identified/described as > 'farsi'; I once thought that 'Western Persian' was going to be added as a > second description field for 'pes' but I guess this is a can of worms right now > and has already been discussed to the fullest extent possible at ietf- > languages.; see: > > http://www.alvestrand.no/pipermail/ietf-languages/2008- > December/008715.html > > } > > > * * * > > > Decision 1, par 2, first bullet, par 2 ENGLISH > > > "You could look up language information in the SIL Ethnologue and cross- > referencing with Wikipedia. > > > { COMMENTS: > ??? "cross-referencing" has no direct object here but should normally take > one; also it's not even clear whether it's the audience of this sentence > or SIL Ethnologue who will be doing the cross-referencing (that is the subject > antecedent is not clear) > perhaps because the two verbs ("look up" and "cross-referencing") are not > syntactically parallel--which they should be if 'you' is the subject for both! > >= "You could look up language information in the SIL Ethnologue and > cross-reference it with information in Wikipedia." > } > Fixed. > > > Decision 1, par 2, second bullet, par 2 PUNCTUATION > > > > "For example, ku (Kurdish) is a macrolanguage that encompasses ckb > (Central Kurdish), kmr (Northern Kurdish), and sdh (Southern Kurdish)," > > > > { COMMENT: > > There should be a full-stop, and not a comma, at the end of the above > paragraph. > } > Fixed. > > > Decision 1, par 2, third bullet, par 2 ENGLISH > > > > "You should look for a more specific subtag for the language you are > wanting to use. Unfortunately, the registry doesn't provide any pointers for > this." > > > { COMMENT: Awkward; why "you are wanting"? Why not just ""you wish"? > Also "use" sound vague to me; I prefer "specify" here. Also, what "registry"? > Do you mean "the language subtag registry"/BP 47 or do you mean this Q&A > article? ?? This article isn't a registry? > > > > >= "You should look for a more specific subtag for the language you wish to > specify. Unfortunately, this registry {???this article??? the language subtag > registry???} does not provide any pointers for doing so." > } Changed to You should look for a more specific subtag for the language you are interested in > > > > * * * > > > > Decision 5, par 4, first bullet, par 2 ENGLISH > > > > "If you have a good reason, you could use a variant subtag with different > subtags, eg. cmn-Latn-pinyin would be a legal to say Mandarin Chinese > written with pinyin." > > > { COMMENT: ?? "would be a legal to say ???" Where is the noun that must > follow an article such as 'a'?? I only see an adjective, 'legal;' > I suppose you mean 'legal way'?? > > >= "would be a legal {or proper??} way to indicate Mandarin Chinese content > written using the pinyin romanization system." > > > Hope I did not get too wordy. > } Fixed. > > > Decision 5, par 4, first bullet, par 3 ENGLISH > > > > "Although zh, bo and Latn are specified, this is a minimum requirement. It is > also possible to include other subtags, such as a region subtag, in the > language tag (where appropriate), eg. zh-Latn-TW-pinyin." > > > > { COMMENT for clarity, I'd say (even though you may feel you have said this > above), > "Although either zh or bo followed by Latn are specified . .>" > } I'd rather leave as is. Thank you. RI > > > > Best, > > > > C. E. Whitehead > > cewcathar@hotmail.com > > > From: ishida@w3.org > > To: www-international@w3.org > > Date: Fri, 9 Oct 2009 19:25:29 +0100 > > Subject: Article for wide review: Choosing a language tag > > > > > > http://www.w3.org/International/questions/qa-choosing-language-tags > > > > > > Comments are being sought on this article prior to final release. Please > send any comments to www-international@w3.org (subscribe). We expect to > publish a final version in one to two weeks. > > > > > > > > > > > > ============ > > Richard Ishida > > Internationalization Lead > > W3C (World Wide Web Consortium) > > > > http://www.w3.org/International/ > > http://rishida.net/ > > > > > > > > > > > > > >
Received on Tuesday, 24 November 2009 21:00:36 UTC