Re: Unicode CJK Language Myth

From: Kenichi Handa (handa@etl.go.jp)
Date: Wed May 15 1996 - 21:20:35 EDT


mduerst@ifi.unizh.ch writes:
> Not exactly. If you know only Japanese, then your system is
> with very high probability set up so that it uses a Japanese font
> ...

Do you mean that one should setup his environment for his locale? How
a novice user can setup appropriate fonts when he borrows a terminal
of his friend?

All your discussions are based on bilingual environemnt, not on
multilingual environment. Switching Japanese and Chinese font just
for reading a plain text? What happens when a Japanese and a Chinese
communicate with each other in Japanese and Chinese mixed text?

And, your statements contains many "will", "high probability", and
"most probably". There are surely many cases that some of these
assumptions are false.

> - The difference between the various glyph shapes in this
> case is one of the largest in Unicode and one of
> those where the glyphs are most difficult to associate
> for an uninformed reader. Most differences are much
> smaller.

So, anyway, you also admit that Unicode has unified some characters
which may cause difficulty in readability.

> - Readability counts mostly in context, but there is no
> real problem with readability out of context. Anyway,

If one can't identify a character which can be identified in a
different environment, it's a "real problem" for him.

> I guess there are many characters that are difficult
> to explain (let alone to give the correct reading in
> Japanese) if they appear alone, even on paper.

Yet, then what? There are many characters that can be explained by
itself.

---
Ken'ichi HANDA
handa@etl.go.jp



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