RFC 3536 (rfc3536) - Page 2 of 30
Terminology Used in Internationalization in the IETF
Alternative Format: Original Text Document
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