[XeTeX] Greek XeLaTeX

[Tobias Schoel]

Hi,

Argument A:
1. history has shown that a universal language can't be forced or 
invented (why don't we all speak esperanto for example?) but develops. 
the universal language of the 20th and 21st century _is_ english. (I 
don't care for the reason, linguistiv imperalism or whatever. All I care 
for is, that it is.)

2. culture (including mother tongue) is worth.

3. if we want everybody on the whole earth to be able to communicate to 
each other, we need _one_ universal language. for many people it's too 
hard to learn more than one foreign language. (it's even hard to learn 
one foreign language, but that can't be helped for now.)

=> Everybody should learn English.

Argument B:
1. TeX&co are hard to learn, without regarding the human language.

2. Don't teach two different things at a time, especially don't teach 
new content and new form simultaneously. (Proactive and Retroactive 
hindrance)

=> TeX Beginners should have as much Greek interface as possible.

Argument C:
1. TeX documents should run on every system, TeX is installed on, and 
yield the same result.

=> TeX macros should be universal or TeX compiler should be universal.

Solutions: (Only ideas I have, you can tell, what is good and what is not.)
1. One Compiler to rule them all.
2. One Prepocessor to translate each to the one format. (Could also be 
used as a "post working process"-processor.)
3. One "In-Line" processor to handle another language (class file, style 
file)

4. An interface, which translates all the time: The users types 
\αρχή{κειμένου}, the interfaces shows \αρχή{κειμένου}, but writes 
\begin{document} to the tex-file. It can show \begin{document} as a tool 
tip or show the true document in a second window.
5. An interface, which translates at the moment: The users types 
\αρχή{κειμένου} but the interface shows \begin{document} and writes that 
stuff to the tex-file. (Very much like a special input method. For 
example the latex-input-method for ibus. I type \rightarrow and I get ...
damn it, where is my latex input method? where is my unicode input method?
...
I should get →.

bye

toscho, who will check, what the ubuntu-upgrade did to ibus ...



Am 12.10.2010 13:10, schrieb Apostolos Syropoulos:
>> I fully  understand your sentiments, and as you are (I think)
>> a non-native speaker of  English who has made the effort to
>
> No I am not a native speaker of English and that's obvious!
>
>> learn a language other than your mother  tongue, your opinion
>> is probably more important than mine.  But whilst  standardisation
>> does indeed bring many advantages, it also imposes  unnecessary
>> entry barriers for those who are not native speakers of  the
>> language that the standard imposes.  And I, for one, feel  that
>> those barriers should be removed whenever possible.
>
> You have a point, however, let me remind you that if one wants to
> study say Greek archeology, he/she must learn ancient Greek. Also,
> I think that people who study law need to have a good command of
> Latin. Scholars working in theology need to have a good command of
> both Greek and Latin. Also, it seems that linguists need to have a basic
> understanding of a number of different languages. People wanting to
> study art or architecture need to have basic skills in drawing. What am
> I trying to say? Simply that there are barriers everywhere. As I said in
> my previous message, if one does not feel happy with something he/she
> can create something new. For example, StarTeX was a project developed
> by someone who wanted high school pupils to be able to use TeX for their
> work (see http://www.tug.org/TUGboat/Articles/tb17-2/tb51dag.pdf).
>
>>   I genuinely believe that we  should
>> be moving towards a more inclusive society, in which each  can
>> express his or her ideas in his or her own native language.
>
> Indeed, this a goal set by the EU who wants all Europeans to be fluent in
> two EU languages (three, if one includes the mother tongue of each
> individual).
>
>> Computers  are the very tools that make this feasible : is it
>> not time that we started  to exploit them more fully, for the benefit
>> of all ?
>
> Einstein once said: Make it simple, but not simpler! And here someone
> tries to makes things simpler...
>
> A.S.
>
>
> ----------------------
> Apostolos Syropoulos
> Xanthi, Greece
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
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