Odd language problem

[joneall]

I had language problems before, but they were resolved by setting /etc/default/locale

$ cat /etc/default/locale
LANG="en_US.UTF-8"

Now most messages are in english:


$ ls lkjlkj
ls: cannot access lkjlkj: No such file or directory
$ ls -ld jon-files/
drwxr-xr-x 47 jon sjuser 4096 Nov 13 14:52 jon-files/

so error messages and dates, for instance, are in english.

But when I fire up certain applications, say pidgin, it immediately starts talking french. Also, I have seen at least one application which displays the "Save" dialog in french. For info,

$ locale
LANG=en_US.UTF-8
LANGUAGE=en_US
LC_CTYPE="en_US.UTF-8"
LC_NUMERIC=en_US.UTF-8
LC_TIME=en_US.UTF-8
LC_COLLATE="en_US.UTF-8"
LC_MONETARY=en_US.UTF-8
LC_MESSAGES="en_US.UTF-8"
LC_PAPER=en_US.UTF-8
LC_NAME=en_US.UTF-8
LC_ADDRESS=en_US.UTF-8
LC_TELEPHONE=en_US.UTF-8
LC_MEASUREMENT=en_US.UTF-8
LC_IDENTIFICATION=en_US.UTF-8
LC_ALL=

No french in there. System settings > Locale shows american english as the preferred language with french second.

Any ideas?

[oshunluvr]

Does pidgin have a config file in your home? Does this behavior repeat itself with all users?

I assume you set United States as your country of location.

[joneall]

Does pidgin have a config file in your home? Does this behavior repeat itself with all users?

Yes, it does. And with another user, the opening message is in english. However, since no IM account has been set up for him, I can't go any further. The account file it has set up for me looks like this:

$ less accounts.xml
<?xml version='1.0' encoding='UTF-8' ?>

<account version='1.0'>
<account>
<protocol>prpl-yahoo</protocol>
<name>joneall</name>
<password>Lulu1Yahoo</password>
<statuses>
<status type='available' name='Disponible' active='true'>
<attributes/>
</status>
<status type='away' name='Absent' active='false'>
<attributes>
<attribute id='message' value='Je ne suis pas là pour l&apos;instant'/>
</attributes>
</status>
<status type='brb' name='Bientôt de retour' active='false'>
<attributes/>
</status>
<status type='busy' name='Occupé' active='false'>
<attributes/>
</status>
<status type='notathome' name='Pas à la maison' active='false'>
<attributes/>
</status>
<status type='notatdesk' name='Pas au bureau' active='false'>
<attributes/>
</status>
<status type='notinoffice' name='Pas au travail' active='false'>
<attributes/>
</status>
<status type='onphone' name='Au téléphone' active='false'>
<attributes/>
</status>
<status type='onvacation' name='En vacances' active='false'>
<attributes/>
</status>
<status type='outtolunch' name='Parti manger' active='false'>
<attributes/>
</status>
<status type='steppedout' name='De sortie' active='false'>
<attributes/>
</status>
<status type='invisible' name='Invisible' active='false'>
<attributes/>
</status>
<status type='offline' name='Déconnecté' active='false'>
<attributes/>
<attributes/>
</status>
</statuses>
<settings>
<setting name='picture_expire' type='int'>0</setting>
<setting name='local_charset' type='string'>UTF-8</setting>
<setting name='xfer_host' type='string'>filetransfer.msg.yahoo.com</setting>
<setting name='xfer_port' type='int'>80</setting>
<setting name='proxy_ssl' type='bool'>0</setting>
<setting name='port' type='int'>5050</setting>
<setting name='check-mail' type='bool'>0</setting>
<setting name='ignore_invites' type='bool'>0</setting>
<setting name='picture_url'/>
<setting name='room_list_locale' type='string'>us</setting>
<setting name='use-global-buddyicon' type='bool'>1</setting>
<setting name='picture_checksum' type='int'>0</setting>
</settings>
<settings ui='gtk-gaim'>
<setting name='auto-login' type='bool'>1</setting>
</settings>
<current_error/>
</account>
</account>

Sorry that's lost the format. For some reason, at the bottom of this page it says "HTML code is Off".
Aside from the translated messages, I see nothing in there to indicate a language.

I assume you set United States as your country of location.

Yes, of course.

$ echo $LANGUAGE
en_US
$ cat /etc/default/locale
LANG="en_US.UTF-8"
$ locale
LANG=en_US.UTF-8
LANGUAGE=en_US
LC_CTYPE="en_US.UTF-8"
LC_NUMERIC=en_US.UTF-8
LC_TIME=en_US.UTF-8
LC_COLLATE="en_US.UTF-8"
LC_MONETARY=en_US.UTF-8
LC_MESSAGES="en_US.UTF-8"
LC_PAPER=en_US.UTF-8
LC_NAME=en_US.UTF-8
LC_ADDRESS=en_US.UTF-8
LC_TELEPHONE=en_US.UTF-8
LC_MEASUREMENT=en_US.UTF-8
LC_IDENTIFICATION=en_US.UTF-8
LC_ALL=

Only my time zone is set to Paris (UTS+1).

[joneall]

Numerous applications in french -- where is consistency?

It is not just pidgin, but many applications that come up in french: pidgin, KDE partition editor, vlc, sound juicer.

What do these programs have in common and where can they find french?

Maybe if I reinstall one?

This is a real pain.

Reminder:

$ locale
LANG=en_US.UTF-8
LANGUAGE=en_US
LC_CTYPE="en_US.UTF-8"
LC_NUMERIC=en_US.UTF-8
LC_TIME=en_US.UTF-8
LC_COLLATE="en_US.UTF-8"
LC_MONETARY=en_US.UTF-8
LC_MESSAGES="en_US.UTF-8"
LC_PAPER=en_US.UTF-8
LC_NAME=en_US.UTF-8
LC_ADDRESS=en_US.UTF-8
LC_TELEPHONE=en_US.UTF-8
LC_MEASUREMENT=en_US.UTF-8
LC_IDENTIFICATION=en_US.UTF-8
LC_ALL=

$ env | grep -i en
LC_PAPER=en_US.UTF-8
LC_ADDRESS=en_US.UTF-8
PIDGINLANG=en
LC_MONETARY=en_US.UTF-8
GPG_AGENT_INFO=/tmp/gpg-X9do9h/S.gpg-agent:2176:1
LC_NUMERIC=en_US.UTF-8
LC_TELEPHONE=en_US.UTF-8
LC_IDENTIFICATION=en_US.UTF-8
LANG=en_US.UTF-8
GDM_LANG=en_US
LC_MEASUREMENT=en_US.UTF-8
LANGUAGE=en_US
UPSTART_EVENTS=started xsession
LESSOPEN=| /usr/bin/lesspipe %s
XDG_CURRENT_DESKTOP=KDE
LC_TIME=en_US.UTF-8
LC_NAME=en_US.UTF-8
_=/usr/bin/env


$ env | grep -i fr
XDG_SESSION_PATH=/org/freedesktop/DisplayManager/Session0
XDG_SEAT_PATH=/org/freedesktop/DisplayManager/Seat0

[joneall]

I just went into System Settings > Language, numeric... > Country/Region and removed french

No change in the language of vlc, kde part ed, etc.

[joneall]

But even without french in System Settings > Language, numeric... > Country/Region, i can still change the keyboard.

It is quite clear that I do not understand how the different parts of language handling in kde/linux are articulated. Where can I find this?

[joneall]

Apparently, keyboard-language selection depends on what is configured in System Settings > Input devices > Keyboard > Layouts, and nothing more.

However, by removing french as second/alternate language in System Settings > Language, numeric... > Country/Region, I no longer have a french spelling checker in Libreoffice.

That's 2 levels: keyboard input and spell checker.

Where do I set the language to be used by applications like KDE part editor and vlc? Couldn't all this have been done in one place?

Very strange/très étrange. (I added this just as a demo of the keyboard setting.)

[joneall]

Ye gods! I uninstalled vlc and discovered to my horror that even apt is speaking french!

$ apt-get lkj
E: L'opération lkj n'est pas valable

That was because I had renamed my .bashrc. When I put it back, apt has returned to english.

BUT

$ type vlc
bash: type: vlc : non trouvé