Text encoding Babel. Was Re: George Keremedjiev

[Fred Cisin]

We have a tendency to be remarkably ethnocentric.  When you apply for a 
job, do you send them a copy of your RESUME?
There is an exit on 280 for "La Canada" road.

For most European languages (I did say MOST), an 8 bit extended ASCII 
could be adequate.

"Recently" (1981), I was disappointed in IBM's character extensions for 
the 5150.  We got smiley faces, but not even pound-sterling nor Yen!

16 bits would presumably be adequate for designing a character set for 
most phonetic alphabets. (I did say MOST).

When I got my Epson HC-20's (like the HX-20, but including Katakana), and 
my Epson RC-20 (wristwatch, Z80 like, with RAM, ROM, and serial port)
I started to try to learn a little Japanese.  I didn't get very far, but I 
did at least learn the sounds of Katakana, and could sound out words 
written in it (a LOT of computer materials use Katakana for non-Japanese 
words, such as "monitor")

But, full inclusion of pictographic languages (Kanji, etc.) would require 
more than 16 bits.


--
Grumpy Ol' Fred     		cisin at xenosoft.com