Re: what is the real problem?

Keith Moore scripsit:

> Consider the problem of a student from a country that uses an 
> ideographic written language who is attending university in a country 
> that uses an alphabetic language that is compatible with ASCII (English 
> is one such language, not quite the only one).
> 
> The student cannot write to his relatives at home because their email 
> addresses require him to use characters that are not supported by the 
> ASCII-based MTAs at his university.

This problem is solved if everyone who has a non-ASCII address also has
an equivalent ASCII one (without prejudice to the question of whether
non-ASCII text appears in the underlying protocol).

> The relatives cannot write to the student because they can only write 
> in their native language and script, and therefore they cannot type the 
> student's email address.

This problem is a genuine one, but I don't know that it's reasonable to
expect a solution to it.  It is not possible to snail-mail me if you can't
write Latin letters, for example; but the reverse is not true, because
postal systems have agreed to accept mail addressed in Latin letters.

Indeed, by Universal Postal Union rules, Latin letters and European
digits MUST be used in addresses in international mail; the script
customary in the destination country SHOULD be used as well.

If anyone is curious, the following rules also apply to international mail:

1) The means of specifying of the destination country MUST be that
   required by the source country.

2) The format of the rest of the address MUST be as specified by the
   destination country.

3) The name of the destination country SHOULD be specified in a language
   used in the source country; the name of the country in any widely used
   language MAY be added in order to assist in transport.

(Source: UPU Letter Post Regulations, Article RE 204, section 3.3)

-- 
John Cowan  www.ccil.org/~cowan  www.reutershealth.com  [email protected]
In might the Feanorians / that swore the unforgotten oath
brought war into Arvernien / with burning and with broken troth.
and Elwing from her fastness dim / then cast her in the waters wide,
but like a mew was swiftly borne, / uplifted o'er the roaring tide.