[mpeg-OTspec] RE: Updates to script and language tags

[Behdad Esfahbod]

On 13-01-16 08:59 PM, Simon Daniels MSFT wrote:
> Also, I was curious about the proposed Swahili -> Kiswahili change -- do most
> people look under "K" to find the name of this language?
> 
> [Andrew Glass] Kiswahili is the form of the name we [Microsoft] have been
> asked to use. While English speakers may be more familiar with the name
> Swahili, the expectation here is that people who are providing functionality
> that targets this language will not be surprised to find it under Kiswahili.

Disagree.  "people who are providing functionality that targets this language"
happens to be mostly people on this list.  Most of us communicate in English,
not in Swahili.  I will indeed would be unable to match Kiswahili to Swahili
out of the blue.  Indeed, it is bad enough that the language tag list doesn't
use any standard name or code.  Matching it to BCP47 identifiers is a trial
and error game already.  Changes like this don't improve it, quite to the
contrary.

Plus, on a broader note, people speaking the language are not the best
authority to tell us what the language is called in English (same as Farsi vs
Persian).  That said, the list is certainly in English, so I think English
authorities are in best position to decide what the language is called.

Cheers,

-- 
behdad
http://behdad.org/