Date: Fri, 5 Jan 2018 13:58:37 +0000
From: nullius <nullius@nym.zone>
To: bitcoin-dev@lists.linuxfoundation.org
Message-ID: <57f5fcd8644c6f6472cd6a91144a6152@nym.zone>
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Subject: [bitcoin-dev] BIP 39: Add language identifier strings for wordlists
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I propose and request as an enhancement that the BIP 39 wordlist set=20
should specify canonical native language strings to identify each=20
wordlist, as well as short ASCII language codes.  At present, the=20
languages are identified only by their names in English.

Strings properly vetted and recommended by native speakers should=20
facilitate language identification in user interface options or menus. =20
Specification of language identifier strings would also promote=20
interface consistency between implementations; this may be important if=20
a user creates a mnemonic in Implementation A, then restores a wallet=20
using that mnemonic in Implementation B.

As an independent implementer who does not know *all* these different=20
languages, I monkey-pasted language-native strings from a popular wiki=20
site.  I cannot guarantee that they be all accurate, sensible, or even=20
non-embarrassing.

https://github.com/nym-zone/easyseed/blob/1a6e48bbdac9366d9d5d1912dc062dfc3=
f0db2c6/easyseed.c#L99
```
	LANG(english,			u8"English",	"en",	ascii_space ),
	LANG(chinese_simplified,	u8"=E6=B1=89=E8=AF=AD",	"zh-CN",ascii_space ),
	LANG(chinese_traditional,	u8"=E6=BC=A2=E8=AA=9E",	"zh-TW",ascii_space ),
	LANG(french,			u8"Fran=C3=A7ais",	"fr",	ascii_space ),
	LANG(italian,			u8"Italiano",	"it",	ascii_space ),
	LANG(japanese,			u8"=E6=97=A5=E6=9C=AC=E8=AA=9E",	"ja",	u8"\u3000"  ),
	LANG(korean,			u8"=ED=95=9C=EA=B5=AD=EC=96=B4",	"ko",	ascii_space ),
	LANG(spanish,			u8"Espa=C3=B1ol",	"es",	ascii_space )
```

Per the comment at #L85 of the quoted file, I also know that for my=20
short identifiers for Chinese, =E2=80=9Czh-CN=E2=80=9D and =E2=80=9Czh-TW=
=E2=80=9D, are imprecise at=20
best=E2=80=94insofar as Hong Kong uses Traditional; and overseas Chinese ma=
y use=20
either.  For differentiating the two Chinese writing variants, are there=20
any appropriate standardized or customary short ASCII language IDs=20
similar to ISO 3166-1 alpha-2 which are purely linguistic, and not fit=20
to present-day political boundaries?

My general suggestion is that the specification of appropriate strings=20
in bitcoin:bips/bip-0039/bip-0039-wordlists.md be made part of the=20
process for accepting new wordlists.  My specific request is that such=20
strings be ascertained for the wordlists already existing, preferably=20
=66rom the persons involved in the original pull requests therefor.

Should this proposal be =E2=80=9Cconcept ACKed=E2=80=9D by appropriate part=
ies, then I=20
may open a pull request suggesting an appropriate format for specifying=20
this information in the repository.  However, I will must needs leave=20
the vetting of appropriate strings to native speakers or experts in the=20
respective languages.

Prior references:  The wordlist additions at PRs #92, #130 (Japanese);=20
#100 (Spanish); #114 (Chinese, both variants); #152 (French); #306=20
(Italian); #570 (Korean); #621 (Indonesian, *proposed*, open).

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