RE: languages and tags

[Markus Breilmann <markus.breilmann@tamgroup.com>]

Hello Bernd and list,


>given one possible solution to take the whole EDIFACT Data Dictionary I
>think it would be a very painfull job to translate all the Segment,
>Element and Code Entries into Memonic english. Some automated jobs
>(first three words of the official EDIFACT description for example) wont
>produce very good tag Names in all parts of the system. Therefore I
>think coded elements are the much better solution here.. after all we
>are talking about data processing not printing. It is quite easy to
>store the Full Text Name of every Element in an attribute and use it in
>a XSL Stylesheet for Visualisation.
>
>This means:
>                                             generic XSL+language
>selector
>coded-XML-EDI-Message + DTD-with-fixed-attributes)  --->  HTML with
>localized output

I have to agree with Matti and Achim and would like to encourage the use of 
English mnemonics.
Being another non-native English speaker (as apparently all people 
commenting on this) I find it non only acceptable but also very useful to 
have English mnemonics rather than codes, potentially even numeric ones. To 
me one of the big advantages of XML as a data format is human readability 
(to a certain extend) that has a big impact on acceptance and also 
usability. The big promise of XML is that we can drive the exchange of 
electronic documents down to the small business level. This is where you 
can't afford to have a steep learning curve in order to participate. The 
fact that these news groups use English to me is an obvious indication that 
this is the language of choice for our common basis.
Also I don't think that we as the people providing the infrastructure and 
technology should shy away from the work in order to make our lives easier 
and in the process leave the users/less involved people behind with the 
harder to understand definitions. I think it might be well worth the 'pain' 
of going through the extended definitions phase.

Best regards,

Markus Breilmann