Handling of far-east languages.

[Arndt Jonasson]

This is a request for information. We are in the process of developing
software which among other things will handle natural languages other
than English in a useful manner. This software will mostly run in an
environment using the X Window System. Among the languages that raise
the most problems is Japanese, since the set of characters is so much
larger than the Latin alphabet.

We already have some information regarding handling of Japanese
characters (Kanji) on various manufacturers' systems (as well as some
knowledge of Japanese), but we would like to know more, so we can
decide how best to design a system that will work satisfactorily on
most systems. Areas of interest are: character encodings, encoding
conversion algorihms, terminal emulators using Kanji for input/output,
editors using Kanji, availability of Kanji on IBM PC compatibles and
Unix workstations, implementation and ergonomics of Kanji input
mechanisms, algorithms for Kana->Kanji conversion, handling of Kanji
in various programming language implementations, etc.

While using Japanese as an example, information on Korean and Chinese
would also be welcome, as well as about other window systems than X.

Thank you in advance. Please send mail, don't post. I will post a
summary.

--
Arndt Jonasson, ZYX Sweden AB, Styrmansgatan 6, 114 54 Stockholm, Sweden
email address:   arndt at zyx.SE   or      <backbone>!mcvax!enea!zyx!arndt
-- 
Arndt Jonasson, ZYX Sweden AB, Styrmansgatan 6, 114 54 Stockholm, Sweden
email address:   arndt at zyx.SE   or      <backbone>!mcvax!enea!zyx!arndt