Text encoding Babel. Was Re: George Keremedjiev

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