I approve the registration of es-419 (Latin American Spanish)

[Peter Constable]

> From: ietf-languages-bounces at alvestrand.no [mailto:ietf-languages-
> bounces at alvestrand.no] On Behalf Of Karen_Broome at spe.sony.com


> This is not the registration form as I submitted it...

> Added text:
> 
> This tag is intended primarily for cataloguing of localized content
> and resources, *rather than for specifying language preference on
> retrieval*.

Hmmm... I didn't notice that addition, and I'm not sure I'm happy with that. (I may actually have been the original drafter of that text, though hopefully am wiser in addition to being older.) I don't have a problem if it says, 

"In many applications, it may be appropriate to match requests for country-specific Spanish varieties, such as es-AR, with content tagged as es-419."

But to say in effect that applications should never *request* es-419 content or present "Spanish (Latin America)" as a option to users is going too far, IMO.



> *Ideally, a system should be able to deliver content
> labelled with this tag in response to requests for any specific Latin
> American Spanish variety...

Make such a general recommendation that applies to all applications may not be a problem, but I'd be happier with the weaker wording I gave above.



> *Of course, systems can also be implemented to offer this tag as a
> user-preference option, and a server should deliver content labelled
> with this tag when requested for the same.

This would seem to contradict the not-intended-for statement made earlier.



> On the other hand, it is
> not valid to assume that a request for "es-americas" can be serviced
> by returning content labelled as es-AR, or es-BO, es-CL, etc.* (3)
> 
> <karen> Very system-specific. I think the important thing is the
> identification. It should be up to the implementer of the tag as far as
> how to use it.

I agree that the wording is a bit strong. It cannot *generally* be assumed valid to return a request for "es-419" with es-AR content, though in some applications that may be a legitimate course of action. For instance, it would be appropriate to return some country-specific content if the system has no content tagged es-419 but *some* content must be returned.

I suggest the following replacement text:

<quote>
This tag is intended for use on content that has been tailored for Spanish audiences throughout Latin America. It is not a collection for all Latin American Spanish varieties; it merely indicates that the author made choices in vocabulary, grammar, spelling, etc. that would make the content reasonably acceptable to speakers of most or all Latin American Spanish varieties. (This tag does not imply any further details regarding what those choices may have been, however.)

In many applications, it may be appropriate to deliver content labelled with this tag in response to requests for any specific Latin American Spanish variety, including but not limited to the following:

es-AR, es-BO, es-CL, es-CO, es-CR, es-CU, es-DO, es-EC, es-FK, es-GT, es-HN, es-MX, es-NI, es-PA, es-PE, es-PR, es-PY, es-SV, es-UY, es-VE.

In some applications, it may be appropriate to offer this tag as a user-preference option, and a server should deliver content labelled with this tag if available. 

It is not valid in general to assume that a request for "es-419" can be serviced by returning content labelled as es-AR, or es-BO, es-CL, etc. This may be appropriate, however, ‎ in some applications; in particular, if no es-419 content is available but some content must be returned.
</quote>



Peter Constable