We need a GUI to set language of programs indepedant of time format etc

Bug #115631 reported by Fredrik
38
This bug affects 4 people
Affects Status Importance Assigned to Milestone
One Hundred Papercuts
Invalid
Undecided
Unassigned
Ubuntu
Fix Released
Wishlist
Unassigned

Bug Description

This is not really a bug but a much needed feature (I think atleast).

If you like me want all programs to use english for all phrases (so if something goes wrong, you have a chance google on it) but still want all other things to be "swedish", ie time format, money format, numerical format ( . vs ,) you have no possibility other than hacking /etc/environment or other config files.

This is mine:

LANG=en_US.UTF-8
LANGUAGE=en_US:en
LC_CTYPE=en_US.UTF-8
LC_NUMERIC=sv_SE.UTF-8
LC_TIME=sv_SE.UTF-8
LC_COLLATE=en_US.UTF-8
LC_MONETARY=sv_SE.UTF-8
LC_MESSAGES=en_US.UTF-8
LC_PAPER=sv_SE.UTF-8
LC_NAME=sv_SE.UTF-8
LC_ADDRESS=sv_SE.UTF-8
LC_TELEPHONE=sv_SE.UTF-8
LC_MEASUREMENT=sv_SE.UTF-8
LC_IDENTIFICATION=en_US.UTF-8
LC_ALL=

Wouldn't it be nice to let the user select a advanced mode when all these could be specified using the pretty gnome interface? Much like MS Windows that let the user select language BUT override time format and such things.

I DO think you do not need to be a power user to want english phrases but swedish for the rest. 12 hour clock is really AWFUL and never used here in sweden.

Tags: a11y usability
Revision history for this message
Pascal De Vuyst (pascal-devuyst) wrote :

Thanks for your bug report.
A GUI for different locale settings would indeed be nice.

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Pascal De Vuyst (pascal-devuyst) wrote :

Subscribed the gnome-uis team.

Revision history for this message
Mikko Ohtamaa (mikko-red-innovation) wrote :

Indeed this is a much wanted feature in non-english speaking countries.

Here are "brief" instructions how to do it manually for Dapper (doesn't work in Gutsy).

http://myy.helia.fi/~karte/english_in_finland_on_ubuntu.html

Windows can do it with one click, but Ubuntu can do it with 50 lines of command line code =) And as far as I know, KDE does it as well.

Do you know if this is in Gnome roadmap somewhere?

Revision history for this message
Travis Watkins (amaranth) wrote :

As this bug would require writing a whole new GUI app (or extensively modifying an existing one) it does not qualify as a paper cut.

Changed in hundredpapercuts:
status: New → Invalid
tags: added: accessibility usability
arky (arky)
tags: added: a11y
Revision history for this message
Per Ångström (autark) wrote :

I think that the "Language & Text" administrative GUI in Lucid Lynx addresses this problem.

Revision history for this message
Robert Hrovat (robi-hipnos) wrote :

This might be it. Altough I'm using native language for whole system now :-)

tags: removed: accessibility
Revision history for this message
Cris Dywan (kalikiana) wrote :

I'm using Unity/ Precise and "Language Settings" → "Regional formats" does let you choose a time format different to interface locale.
It's worth noting it doesn't set LC_CTYPE which GLib.DateTime/ GDateTime expects, but that'd be worth a distinct problem report

Changed in ubuntu:
status: Confirmed → Fix Released
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