RFC 3536 (rfc3536) - Page 2 of 30

Terminology Used in Internationalization in the IETF

RFC 3536  Terminology Used in Internationalization in the IETF  May 2003


1. Introduction

   As [RFC 2277] summarizes: "Internationalization is for humans.  This
   means that protocols are not subject to internationalization; text
   strings are." Many protocols throughout the IETF use text strings
   that are entered by, or are visible to, humans.  It should be
   possible for anyone to enter or read these text strings, which means
   that Internet users must be able to be enter text in typical input
   methods and displayed in any human language.  Further, text
   containing any character should be able to be passed between Internet
   applications easily.  This is the challenge of internationalization.

1.1 Purpose of this document

   This document provides a glossary of terms used in the IETF when
   discussing internationalization.  The purpose is to help frame
   discussions of internationalization in the various areas of the IETF
   and to help introduce the main concepts to IETF participants.

   Internationalization is discussed in many working groups of the IETF.
   However, few working groups have internationalization experts.  When
   designing or updating protocols, the question often comes up "should
   we internationalize this" (or, more likely, "do we have to
   internationalize this").

   This document gives an overview of internationalization as it applies
   to IETF standards work by lightly covering the many aspects of
   internationalization and the vocabulary associated with those topics.
   It is not meant to be a complete description of internationalization.
   The definitions in this document are not normative for IETF
   standards; however, they are useful and standards may make
   informative reference to this document after it becomes an RFC.  Some
   of the definitions in this document come from many earlier IETF
   documents and books.

   As in many fields, there is disagreement in the internationalization
   community on definitions for many words.  The topic of language
   brings up particularly passionate opinions for experts and non-
   experts alike.  This document attempts to define terms in a way that
   will be most useful to the IETF audience.

   This document uses definitions from many documents that have been
   developed outside the IETF.  The primary documents used are:

      - ISO/IEC 10646 [ISOIEC10646]

      - The Unicode Standard [UNICODE]




Hoffman                      Informational