browser language tags

["André (小山) Schappo"]

There is significant difference between browsers in the set of  
language tags available for user selection. It would be of benefit if  
there were an agreed set of language tags that were incorporated into  
all browsers. Perhaps some sort of registration system similar to <http://www.iana.org/assignments/language-subtag-registry 
 > except for fully formed language tags instead of subtags.

This would pave the way for interesting applications of language tags  
in browsers.

eg

Take a youtube like site (lets call it signtube) that also has a  
signed language version of a video that is shown in parallel. Now take  
the language subtag:

Type: language
Subtag: sgn
Description: Sign Languages

Different regions have different sign languages.

Then register the language tags

sgn-GB (British Sign Language)
sgn-JP (Japanese Sign Language)
sgn-CN (Chinese Sign Language)
...etc...

Then, for example, if I had my browser set to sgn-JP I would see the  
video on signtube signed in Japanese Sign Language.

André Schappo
http://国际化域名.lboro.ac.uk/

["Martin J. Dürst"]

Hello André,

On 2009/05/06 22:29, André (小山) Schappo wrote:
>
> There is significant difference between browsers in the set of language
> tags available for user selection. It would be of benefit if there were
> an agreed set of language tags that were incorporated into all browsers.
> Perhaps some sort of registration system similar to
> <http://www.iana.org/assignments/language-subtag-registry> except for
> fully formed language tags instead of subtags.

Who would be allowed to register there? How could we force browser
vendors to follow this registry?

> This would pave the way for interesting applications of language tags in
> browsers.
>
> eg
>
> Take a youtube like site (lets call it signtube) that also has a signed
> language version of a video that is shown in parallel. Now take the
> language subtag:
>
> Type: language
> Subtag: sgn
> Description: Sign Languages
>
> Different regions have different sign languages.
>
> Then register the language tags
>
> sgn-GB (British Sign Language)
> sgn-JP (Japanese Sign Language)
> sgn-CN (Chinese Sign Language)
> ...etc...

Please note that draft-ietf-ltru-4645bis deprecates codes such as sgn-GB
in favor of ISO 639-3 three-letter codes (gss for sgn-GB).

> Then, for example, if I had my browser set to sgn-JP I would see the
> video on signtube signed in Japanese Sign Language.

Why would this be helped by having an accepted list of languages for the
browsers? Even without that, you can set your browser's preference to
include jsl (sgn-JP), and if that's available on signtube, it can easily
be served. The big obstacle to that is not an uniform list in the
browser, but the cost of translation.

Regards,    Martin.

> André Schappo
> http://国际化域名.lboro.ac.uk/
>

--
#-# Martin J. Dürst, Professor, Aoyama Gakuin University
#-# http://www.sw.it.aoyama.ac.jp   mailto:duerst@...

["André (小山) Schappo"]

Hi Martin,

On 16 Jun 2009, at 09:35, Martin J. Dürst wrote:

> Hello André,
>
> On 2009/05/06 22:29, André (小山) Schappo wrote:
>>
>> There is significant difference between browsers in the set of  
>> language
>> tags available for user selection. It would be of benefit if there  
>> were
>> an agreed set of language tags that were incorporated into all  
>> browsers.
>> Perhaps some sort of registration system similar to
>> <http://www.iana.org/assignments/language-subtag-registry> except for
>> fully formed language tags instead of subtags.
>
> Who would be allowed to register there? How could we force browser  
> vendors to follow this registry?

I am thinking an open registry with moderation by knowledgeable persons.

I imagine that browser vendors would willingly adopt registered  
language tags in addition to the set they currently support. I  
envisage that those that register a language tag would have a real/
innovative need/application for that language tag. The language tag  
registry would guide the browser vendors and form a reference source  
for applied language tags.

>
>
>
>> This would pave the way for interesting applications of language  
>> tags in
>> browsers.
>>
>> eg
>>
>> Take a youtube like site (lets call it signtube) that also has a  
>> signed
>> language version of a video that is shown in parallel. Now take the
>> language subtag:
>>
>> Type: language
>> Subtag: sgn
>> Description: Sign Languages
>>
>> Different regions have different sign languages.
>>
>> Then register the language tags
>>
>> sgn-GB (British Sign Language)
>> sgn-JP (Japanese Sign Language)
>> sgn-CN (Chinese Sign Language)
>> ...etc...
>
> Please note that draft-ietf-ltru-4645bis deprecates codes such as  
> sgn-GB in favor of ISO 639-3 three-letter codes (gss for sgn-GB).

Thank you for that info. Interesting and illuminating.

>
>
>> Then, for example, if I had my browser set to sgn-JP I would see the
>> video on signtube signed in Japanese Sign Language.
>
> Why would this be helped by having an accepted list of languages for  
> the browsers? Even without that, you can set your browser's  
> preference to include jsl (sgn-JP), and if that's available on  
> signtube, it can easily be served. The big obstacle to that is not  
> an uniform list in the browser, but the cost of translation.
>

I am using firefox and currently there are only the standard (not sure  
who's standard :-)) language tags available for user selection. So,  
currently, it is not just a matter of setting browser preferences.  
When I want a different language tag then I use the firefox extension  
"Modify Headers" to change the http header Accept-Language. I  
currently have Modify Headers set up for en-Brai, zh-Brai, ja-Brai, ko-
Brai (for my experimentation with adaptive websites) which are not  
available in the firefox set of language tags.

So, if, for example :-

I were to register ja-Brai in a language tag registry and if browser  
vendors were to incorporate those language tags in the registry then  
ja-Brai would be user selectable by all users.

> Regards,    Martin.
> --
> #-# Martin J. Dürst, Professor, Aoyama Gakuin University
> #-# http://www.sw.it.aoyama.ac.jp   mailto:duerst@...


André 小山 Schappo
http://国际化域名.lboro.ac.uk/