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[XML-DEV Mailing List Archive Home] [By Thread] [By Date] [Recent Entries] [Reply To This Message] RE: Two different sets of experiences about non-English identifiers
 Joel Rees wrote: > A few months back, one of my co-workers asked during a meeting if it was > really okay that we are using Japanese in the tags in basically all our XML > documents. There was a little mumbling, no discussion, except to point out > that XML seems to allow us to at least use the ones in the UNICODE BMP, > and nothing more. At this point, no one in our company is using English tags > (except when the English tag makes more sense to them). The > advantages seem to overwhelm any theoretical advantage to using English. Were your co-workers schema designers, programmers, systems integrators or end users? If some of each, were there any differences in how much differences native language tag names made? > (And, since my Japanese is about the level of their English, I can feel > first-hand the disadvantages. Using the tags is not so bad, it's > making new ones up that slows me down.<chuckle/>) It is good to learn that: schema designers need deeper level of language expertise than schema users. Makes sense. Wordsmithing is more difficult than reading. > If we need to publish any of this in an environment where those who can't > read Japanese, but need to work on the structure itself, are sufficient in > number, I suppose we'll just make some translation tables and use a little > XSLT or Perl to do global replaces, both directions. What we need is better understanding of issues surrounding non-ASCII tag names and better tools. It is my opinion that XML WG tried to solve too many problems through XML features when tools and education could have provided better if not more natural solutions. When I mentioned English in my previous messages, I really meant to say ASCII. I cannot ignore the fact that ASCII is uniquely available on all computers with text input and output. All computers know how to display ASCII and all keyboards support ASCII input and most even have printed labels for ASCII. I am not aware of any other language that offers similar universal availability. Immediate advantages of native tag names cannot be denied, but at what cost? Yes, little XSLT or Perl can translate, but cost of realizing 'can' is not zero. A Korean bank, which decided two years ago to use native tag names companywide, now has to merge with an American bank, some heads will roll when the CEO is faced with the bill. My point is that we donot understands the issues fully, and we need to find out before such practice becomes unreversably common. Best, Don Park Docuverse 
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