This guide explains the support for international languages supported in Red Hat Enterprise Linux and how to install and configure them. Internationalization entails engineering software to support input and output for different languages. Localization involves adding locale specific features in an application. Localization data is used by a software application for a specific market's language or culture to meet the specific needs of the users. The locale specifies the user's language, country and any specific preferences in the application.
The next chapter introduces language support installation during and after installation. Chapter 3 describes how to change your default language while chapter 4 discusses keyboard installation and configuration. The Smart Common Input Method is discussed in chapter 5. Chapter 6 describes how to write in Japanese, Chinese, Korean and Indic languages.
Major areas of internationalization and localization for Red Hat Enterprise Linux 5 are:
Translation of the user interface within applications.
Translation of application documentation and help.
Character sets and fonts.
Keyboard configuration.
Date, time formats and timezones.
Input methods which allow you to write in more than one language.
A common sign that proper fonts for a particular language are not installed is characters appear as boxes with numbers inside. Please ensure that you have the correct language support packages installed for your language to display content correctly.