> I like the idea of the language element. I would like to add an extra
> precision in this case. I think the order of language should be by
> importance.
> Unfortunately, in this case namely the country, it is something highly
> political to even consider an order. But, in the case of a town located
> in the French speaking part, it would be logical to put something like
> fr;nl;da instead of nl;fr;da. The reverse would be true.
> Belgium is one interesting place to look at; Spain might be an other
> place to look at. The area around Barcelona is likely to be named in
> Catalan nowadays rather than Castellano.
> The order of language is likely to be a minefield because we are talking
> about something highly political, but it would allow to support the
> concept of native language, which I believe is very important.
> Things like different alphabet might be also interesting to look at even
> if it is likely that it can be subsumed under translation.
I don't think the relatively peaceful and stable country of Belgium is at all
the only example where ranking the languages would be quite political and/or
controversial.
What about in New Zealand where a treaty between the Queen and the tribes of
New Zealand established the Maori tribes as equals, and their language, culture
and courts as equals - yet only a small percentage of the population speaks it?
What order do you put the languages? There would be a political uproar if the
government of NZ tried to suggest a ranking.
Or in Tibet, where before the 1950's invasion by the communists everyone speaks
Tibetan, but now gradually more and more people are shipped in who speak
Mandarin Chinese and will probably vastly outnumber the Tibetans in their
homeland within our lifetime?
People in the Basque country might be a little horrified if you put Castillian
in front of Basque (and some might even object to it being in the list).
Regions of India have many languages and subdialects, sometimes switching in a
borderless fashion within a small region/space.
Lastly what actual value would ranking the languages spoken in region by
importance give the project - ie could it be shown on a map, or interpreted in
any device that would be meaningful?
I'm just curious and playing devil's advocate - happy to be convinced that
there is true benefit to a proposal like this...
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