🚀 go-pugleaf

Here are the consolidated responses to the original question from
Bertel Schmitt (73220.2562@CompuServe.COM):

     For a super-duper-urgent localization project I need a file with
     the following data:

     For (hopefully) each country on the planet:

          Language(s) (in local language i.e. Spanish = Espagnol)
          Time format (AM/PM,24 etc.)
          Date Format (ie. MM\DD\YY, DD.MM.YY, DD-MM-YY etc.)
          Currency Symbol (i.e. $, DM, Lit., HFL etc.)


As usual, subscribers to the INSOFT-L Internationalization of Software
mailing list responded remarkably.  Bertel has informed me that he
received several messages in addition to the ones included here; he will
consolidate all of the information, then send a file to me for our
anonymous ftp server.


Jeff
INSOFT-L List Manager

*========================================================================*
 Jeff Bowyer                         EMail:
 Computing Center		     jbowyer@cis.vutbr.cz
 Technical University of Brno
 Udolni 19, 602 00 BRNO
 Czech Republic
*========================================================================*


Sender: Chiaki Ishikawa (pmcgw!personal-media.co.jp!ishikawa@uunet.UU.NET)
        Personal Media Corp.

I wish I had the same set of information.

Here is a crude list about Japan. (BEWARE: I haven't checked the
official JIS, Japanese Industry Standard's relevant section, but the
following is the format many Japanese would use. So just a common
sense answer, maybe incorrect in terms of STRICT STANDARD SENSE.)

> Language(s) (in local language i.e. Spanish = Espagnol)

	Japanese = Nihongo.  Er, obviously I cant write Japanese here!

> Time format (AM/PM,24 etc.)

	1. traditional and used widely

			American English
	Gozen 0 ji	0 am
	Gozen 1 ji	1 am
	...
	Gozen 11 ji
	Syogo		Noon
	Gogo 1 ji	1 pm
	Gogo 2 ji	2 pm
	..
	Gogo 11 ji	13 pm

	2. This is also used widely.

			American English
	00:00		0 am
	01:00		1 am
	02:00		2 am
		...
	12:00		noon
	13:00		1 pm
		...
	23:00		11 pm.

The both formats are used widely.
For example, an annoncement from Nihon Sun User's Group used the
second one. Another from Nihon DEC used the first format. AT&T Spin
network service in Tokyo uses the second format in their direct
mailing letter.

> Date Format (ie. MM\DD\YY, DD.MM.YY, DD-MM-YY etc.)

	1. Used widely

	-YYYY/MM/DD	eg. 1993/10/25, or

	- 1993 Nen 10 Gatsu 25 Nichi.	Nen ... Phonetic rendering of Year
					Gatsu ... same for Month
					Nichi ... same for Day
				These are actually appropriate kanjis.

	- 1993.10.25.	

	2. Japanese way.

	Heisei 5 Nen 10 Gatu 25 Nichi.

	Let me explain: According to the tradition the period under
	which an Emperor (and in the OLD days, Empress) is given a
	proper name: Thusly,
		The year 1993 in Julian calendar is
		Heisei 5 Nen.

	Hence, October 25, 1993 is Heisei 5 Nen 10 Gatsu 25 Nichi.

	(In the really old days, emperors changed names for these
	years at their whim: natural disasters, omens found to be good
	according to fortune tellers, and such  prompted the changes.
	Today, only when an emperor dies and succeeded by his son
	[yes, current law is very much male-centric.], the name
	changes and is done by the government, not by the emperor.]


Frankly speaking all three format above for Western style
representation and the Japanese one are used in a mixed manner.

> Currency Symbol (i.e. $, DM, Lit., HFL etc.)

	YEN. Currency symbol is produced by overwriting equal sign
over a capital Y mark.
Hard to reproduce on ASCII TERMINAl.

BTW, the decimal point is period. So one thousand twenty four point
and a quarter YEN is
	1024.25 Yen
or
	1,024.25 Yen

When the currency symbol is used it usually comes first.
	Y1024.25
	Y1,024.25
with Y actually overwritten with an equal sign.

The three digits separators have become common ALTHOUGH Japanese
counting system uses different names for a group of 4 (FOUR) digit
groups!!! (Silliest Adoption of Western Practices Withtou Critical
Mind!!!) So don't be surprised if an old Japanese put comma for every
four digits :-)

Frankly, I have to ask `what standard?' :-)


Sender: Goran Eriksson (get@get.pp.se)

For Sweden:

>> Language(s) in local language
Swedish: svenska

>> Time format
24 hours. HH:MM:SS

>> Date Format
YYYY-MM-DD or abbreviated YY-MM-DD or YYMMDD
Example: 1993-10-25, 93-10-25 or 931025 for October 25, 1993.

>> Currency Symbol
SEK


Sender: Rajiv Ellepola (mpere@leonis.nus.sg)
        Dept. of Mech. & Prod. Engineering
        National University of Singapore

Attached is some information on Sri Lanka.

Country	   :	Sri Lanka
Language   :	Singhala
Time forma :	AM/PM
Currency   :	Rs (rupees) Cts (cents)
		e.g.
			Rs. 10.25 would mean Ten rupees and twenty five cents.

Good luck. Feel free to contact me if you need more information.


Sender: Peter Castine (pcastine@mvax.kgw.tu-berlin.de)

German		Deutsch
8:21 p.m.	20:21 Uhr	// 'Uhr' (O'Clock) is always appended	
		DD.MM.JJ	// Year can also be 4-digit
Currency	DM		// Suffix, separate from digits by a
				// blank

Days of week
Sonday		Sonntag
		Montag		// Weekly calendars begin on Monday
		Dienstag
		Mittwoch
		Donnerstag
		Freitag
		Samstag		// Also 'Samstag' (regional)

Months				// Can abbr. to first 3 letters
January		Januar
		Februar
		M\"arz		// \"a -> a-umlaut
		April
		Mai
		Juni
		Juli
		August
		September
		Oktober
		November
		Dezember

Sorting: as in English, but *two* different conventions for handling
umlauts and "sharp" s (looks like Greek beta)

Duden: a-umlaut, o-umlaut, u-umlaut treated as a, o, u.
	(I can't think of a single case in German where two
	words would be identical but for an umlaut. In other
	words, merging plain vowels with their umlauted variants
	does not lead to an ambiguous sorting algorithm.)
	
	sharp s treated as 'ss'

DIN:	a-umlaut is treated as 'ae'
	o-umlaut is treated as 'oe'
	u-umlaut is treated as 'ue'
        sharp s treated as 'ss'


From: Pasi Eronen (pasi@forum.nullnet.fi)

Here's the information for Finland:

Language: Finnish = suomi
Time format: 24, no leading zero in hours, separator is a period
Date format: DD.MM.YYYY (no leading zeroes)
Currency symbol: " mk", suffix, two decimals (if non-zero), decimal
separator is a comma (for example, "132 mk" or "24,10 mk").

> I know there's a book somewhere (published by Apple?) but it won't
> do me much good, because I'm away from NYC, holed up in Germany to
> finish this need-it-yesterday project for an airline.

If you have access to Microsoft Windows, try changing the country
setting in the "Control Panel". It doesn't give you the language name,
but at least the time, date, and currency formats for a couple of dozen
countries.


Sender: Jeff Bowyer (jbowyer@cis.vutbr.cz)

Alright, all of you Czech and Slovak subscribers to INSOFT-L . . . here
*was* your big chance to provide the world with localization information.