Selecting BCP-47 locales

Hi all,

Let me introduce this topic before I ask my question. When selecting the system language, there are different options that are based on the ISO-639 standard, which defines a code locale for each language and country. This allow us to select, for example, pt_BR (Brazilian Portuguese) or pt_PT (Portuguese form Portugal) as the language system. Then, if two variants of a language are in a different country, the ISO-639 can differentiate them this way.

But there are languages, for example Catalan, that have two variants in the same country. Then, the ISO-639 cannot differentiate them. Here is where the BCP-47 standard appears [1]. It adds a subtag to identify variants or other codifications (like sr and sr@latin) of a language. In the Catalan case, standard Catalan uses the ca_ES locale code, and the Valencian variant uses the ca_ES-valencia locale code (the subtag is -valencia).

On systems based on Debian is possible to select this variants using the @ modifier. Then, if I define this LANG environment:

LANG=ca_ES.utf8@valencia
LANGUAGE=ca_ES.utf8@valencia
LC_ALL=ca_ES.utf8@valencia

The translation shown on the system is the ca@valencia (for example, in GNOME). GNOME is already translated into Catalan (Valencian) [2].

As well as KDE, OpenOffice.org, VirtualBox, Firefox and many others.

Here is my question:
How can I select the Catalan (Valencian) translation (not the standard Catalan one) when using openSUSE? I have tried modifying the /etc/sysconfig/language file, and defining the rc_lang to:

RC_LANG=“ca_ES.UTF-8@valencia”

But it doesn’t work. The system still in standard Catalan. In Debian systems, the Catalan (Valencian) variant is already on the Catalan package. I don’t know how it works on openSUSE.

Thanks!

[1] IETF language tag - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
[2] Catalan and ca@valencia

On 05/01/2011 10:06 AM, PauGNU wrote:
>
> Let me introduce this topic before I ask my question.

as you have gone over 24 hours without an answer let me give you a few
things to think about:

  • this is a forum where users help users…i mention only because there
    is another openSUSE area where more tech-savvy (developers, for example)
    hang out…look for them on IRC or in mail list, get there from here:
    http://en.opensuse.org/openSUSE:Communication_channels

  • there are a few Spaniards on this list (maybe some are Catalonians, i
    don’t know) and hopefully some one here will know how to solve your
    problem–however, it might be faster for you if you were to post to our
    forum in Spanish: http://www.forosuse.org/forosuse/


CAVEAT: http://is.gd/bpoMD
[openSUSE 11.3 + KDE4.5.5 + Thunderbird3.1.8 via NNTP]
HACK Everything → http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j5b4CCe9pS8&NR=1

On 2011-05-02 12:50, DenverD wrote:
> - there are a few Spaniards on this list (maybe some are Catalonians, i
> don’t know) and hopefully some one here will know how to solve your
> problem–however, it might be faster for you if you were to post to our
> forum in Spanish: http://www.forosuse.org/forosuse/

IMO, the problem is political. It should not be ca_ES-valencia, but va_ES,
because valencian is another language. The predominant (the louder) catalan
people reject that and say that valencian is catalan.

It depends on what political party you ask.


Cheers / Saludos,

Carlos E. R.
(from 11.2 x86_64 “Emerald” at Telcontar)