Internationalization

[Kathleen Frost <kfrost -at- BTSQUARED -dot- COM>]

Please excuse the cross-posting.  I am posting this to the Copyediting-L
and TechWr-L lists because I need as many responses as possible.

My company will be starting on international versions of our five products
within a few weeks and I have been asked to gather any relevant
information.  (Double-byte Asian version sometime next year.)  I need as
much information as possible concerning differences we need to be aware of
when creating the new versions. Some examples would be:
*  localized variations of spelling in English (examples: check and cheque,
-ise vs. -ize)
*  differences in hardware, (no #, what US calls a pound sign, on European
keyboards)
*  words in English that should be avoided in other cultures because they
mean something else there
*  cultural issues, such as the Name field in applications needs to be
longer in some places with typically
    long last names or countries where multiple middle names are common. (I
need countries and estimated
    character lengths if available)

Any information you have come across over the years would be greatly
appreciated.  We are all "word-oriented" people on these lists and I know
many subscribers are like me and tend to collect oddities of language and
culture as we correspond with people in other countries or through projects
we have worked on.

One of our new clients has offices in 56 countries so nothing you send me
is going to go to waste.

Please contact me off line if you have any information on
internationalization issues.  I will summarize the information I receive
and let everyone know when it is available.  If you would like a copy of
the summary, please contact me off line so I can make a list of those I
need to contact when it is ready.

I can safely say "Thank You" in advance because I know the people on these
lists are always willing to help others.  Thank you very much.

 Kathy Frost
Publications Specialist
BT Squared Technologies, Inc.
2970 Clairmont Rd    Ste 1010
Atlanta, GA 30329   USA
(Interactive Sales System software)
Phone: 404-322-1010    ext. 11
EMail: KFrost -at- BTSquared -dot- com
Web:   www.BTSquared.com

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