[asterisk-bugs] [Asterisk 0015346]: [patch] TW is not an ISO Language Code

[Asterisk Bug Tracker]

A NOTE has been added to this issue. 
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https://issues.asterisk.org/view.php?id=15346 
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Reported By:                volivier
Assigned To:                
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Project:                    Asterisk
Issue ID:                   15346
Category:                   Core/Internationalization
Reproducibility:            always
Severity:                   minor
Priority:                   normal
Status:                     ready for testing
Asterisk Version:           1.6.1.0 
Regression:                 No 
SVN Branch (only for SVN checkouts, not tarball releases):  trunk 
SVN Revision (number only!):  
Request Review:              
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Date Submitted:             2009-06-17 16:49 CDT
Last Modified:              2009-06-19 08:07 CDT
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Summary:                    [patch] TW is not an ISO Language Code
Description: 
Tawanese actually is standard mandarin chinese that is categorized as
"zh-tw" or simply "zh" and NEVER "tw". Should simply be "zh" in Asterisk
because Asterisk is not concerned with the actual script of a locale (the
way it is written).

The reason why setting taiwanese as "tw" is a problem, is because it
fragments the efforts to localize in the standard mandarin chinese language
(which is coded as "zh") and is a bad internationalization practice
altogether.
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 (0106708) davidw (reporter) - 2009-06-19 08:07
 https://issues.asterisk.org/view.php?id=15346#c106708 
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My understanding is that the syntax of written Chinese is relatively
consistent, but still has variations.  Spoken forms tend to vary a lot
more.

In practice, ISO don't code spoken Chinese languages.  I doubt that
Cantonese speakers from Guangdong would be happy with the idea that they
should use zh_HK, especially when they would have to use zh_CN when
writing, and I didn't see any codes for Shanghaiese or Hokkien.

The big complication with Chinese is that, because it is ideographic,
there is a disconnect between written and spoken langauges, and zh_TW
doesn't mean Mandarin with traditional characters, it means written Chinese
with traditional characters.  In practice I'd expect people using Chinese
on computers, in Malaysia, to use zh_TW, even though they actually spoke
one of several languages (Cantonese, Hokkien or Mandarin and maybe
others).

On computers, zh_CN tends to imply a phonetic input method, although even
then not necessarily, whilst zh_TW input is independent of pronunciation,
as the input methods encode the character structure.

One of the catches for a PABX is that spoken Mandarin tends to use a
special pronunciation for the number one, in phone numbers, but not in
numeric numbers.  That's the sort of thing that may vary regionally.

Some direct local knowledge from several countries would be useful here. 

Issue History 
Date Modified    Username       Field                    Change               
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2009-06-19 08:07 davidw         Note Added: 0106708                          
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