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Date:         Thu, 4 Feb 93 08:53:44 -0800
From: lamport@SRC.DEC.COM
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Subject:      Re: document classes & numbering systems
Status: R


The series of messages on this topic have been discussing particular
instances of the basic problem of generating the appropriate textual
representation from a specification of logical content.  Below is a
note of mine, which I believe appeared in TeXHaX in April 1988, that
addresses this problem.  I hope its relevance to the current
discussion is clear.

Leslie Lamport

+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

I have had numerous requests from foreign users of LaTeX to make it
easier to produce documents in languages other than English.  After
much thought, I decided that this was a reasonable request.  Moreover,
as long as I was going to make it easier to produce an entire document
in another language, it was a small step to add the extra flexibility of
producing a document in which only selected parts are in another
language.

The kind of transformations required are difficult to program in TeX.
Working from my specifications, Nero Kinshutup has written a Web
program called LeXTeX that is used in conjunction with LaTeX.  Here's
how it works.  Suppose the input file is named myfile.tex.  This
file includes a \language declaration, such as

     \language{french}

in the preamble.  Material that is to appear in French is enclosed in a
`lexedtext' environment.  The user first runs the file through LaTeX,
which causes LaTeX to produce the file myfile.lex, containing the
necessary information extracted from the input.  The user then runs the
LeXTeX program by typing something like

    lextex myfile

LeXTeX produces the file myfile.lxt, which is read the next time
LaTeX is run on the file myfile.tex.  This produces output in which
all the text in the `lexedtext' environments has been translated into
French.  For example, if the input file contains

   Sartre revealed his feelings towards de Beauvoir when he said,
   in a conversation with Camus:
     \begin{lexedtext}
        ``Simone is a remarkably sensitive and intelligent woman.''
     \end{lexedtext}

then the output will look something like

      Sartre revealed his feelings  towards de Beauvoir when he
      said, in a conversation with Camus: <<Simone est une nana
               ,
      bien roulee.>>

Note the French-style quotation marks.  Of course, being a computer
program, LeXTeX will occasionally make small mistakes in the
translation.  You can correct these in the .lxt file.

The introduction of LeXTeX represents a major step towards LaTeX's goal
of freeing the user to concentrate on content without being distracted
by form.  He need not concern himself with petty details of font
selection, spacing, syntax, or vocabulary.  This will be of special
benefit to foreigners, who need no longer wrestle with the complicated
tenses and declensions of their native tongue, but can instead
write in English, which is so much simpler.

Currently available language styles are: french, german, russian, and
japanese.  The following should be available soon: cantonese, british,
navaho, rap, and ameslan.