[aclug-L] Linux in other languages

[John Goerzen <jgoerzen@xxxxxxxxxxxx>]

On Mon, Nov 25, 2002 at 08:30:52PM -0600, Anne McCadden wrote:
> Now someone wants me to install linux in spanish since he can't afford 
> to buy the spanish version of windoze.  I'll install it if he reads to 
> me what it says on the screen, my spanish skills are outdated.  Could 
> someone who has tried installing linux in another language let me know 
> if they had any problems.  ~Anne

What distribution are you using?

In general, there exists very good support in Linux for internationalization
and localization (i18n and l10n).  Internationalization (i18n) referrs to
the process of making a program's text available in different languages. 
Localization (l10n) is the process of formatting output according to local
conventions.  For instance, English speakers would write "June 10, 2002" but
German speakers would write "10 Juni 2002".

I18n and l10n are done on a per-application basis.  It is fair to say that
some applications fare better than others in this department, as is the case
on any platform.  If the installer is i18n-ized, I believe both the core of
KDE and Gnome are, so you should be well set.  You may also be able to run
the installer in English and then set the desktop environment to Spanish
later.

Helpful manpages to look at:

locale(1)
localedef(1)

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