Wrong language (German) after fresh install

[Bernard Decock]

Fresh install from the live-cd (Daily build Xubuntu 14.04 - 32 bit).
My location was determined as Brussels (which is correct).

1. Loginscreen : date and time in german
2. After login : date and time in german
    Locale is set to Deutsch ???
3. Ibus : keyboard-layout = German(?)-Belgian

ProblemType: Bug
DistroRelease: Ubuntu 14.04
Package: ubiquity (not installed)
ProcVersionSignature: Ubuntu 3.13.0-18.38-generic 3.13.6
Uname: Linux 3.13.0-18-generic i686
ApportVersion: 2.13.3-0ubuntu1
Architecture: i386
CurrentDesktop: XFCE
Date: Fri Mar 21 13:07:03 2014
InstallCmdLine: file=/cdrom/preseed/xubuntu.seed boot=casper initrd=/casper/initrd.lz quiet splash -- maybe-ubiquity
InstallationDate: Installed on 2014-03-21 (0 days ago)
InstallationMedia: Xubuntu 14.04 LTS "Trusty Tahr" - Alpha i386 (20140320)
SourcePackage: ubiquity
UpgradeStatus: No upgrade log present (probably fresh install)

[Ubuntu QA Website (ubuntuqa)]

This bug has been reported on the Ubuntu ISO testing tracker.

A list of all reports related to this bug can be found here:
http://iso.qa.ubuntu.com/qatracker/reports/bugs/1295627

[Launchpad Janitor (janitor)]

Status changed to 'Confirmed' because the bug affects multiple users.

[Olivier Godart (olivier-godart-gmail)]

Same bug here, also installed in Belgium, Brussels.
Fresh install using Ubuntu Desktop 64 bit live image

[Brian Murray (brian-murray)]

@Olivier - Which installation media did you use? Was it 14.04 or 14.10? If it was 14.04 was it the 14.04 point release?

[Didier L (l-farquaad)]

Same issue here, Ubuntu 14.04.1 x86_64 fresh install from a live usb a few days ago.

During install I chose to install the system in English, with the “French (Bépo)” keyboard. I'm also located in Brussels, Belgium.

Everything is in English and the keyboard mapping is correct. However the dates are in German for the login screen, the application and the date command.

My /etc/default/locale strangely contains the following:
LANG="en_US.UTF-8"
LC_NUMERIC="de_BE.UTF-8"
LC_TIME="de_BE.UTF-8"
LC_MONETARY="de_BE.UTF-8"
LC_PAPER="de_BE.UTF-8"
LC_NAME="de_BE.UTF-8"
LC_ADDRESS="de_BE.UTF-8"
LC_TELEPHONE="de_BE.UTF-8"
LC_MEASUREMENT="de_BE.UTF-8"
LC_IDENTIFICATION="de_BE.UTF-8"

I changed everything to en_BE (not sure whether that's actually valid…) but it is not effective yet, even in new gnome-terminal. I'll reboot later today to see.

[Didier L (l-farquaad)]

In the end I changed everything to en_GB and the dates are now displayed correctly.

However, gnome-language-selector still suggests me to install the DE packages for an unknown reason.

[Launchpad Janitor (janitor)]

[Expired for ubiquity (Ubuntu) because there has been no activity for 60 days.]

[osmeest (osmeest)]

Installed a brand new Kubuntu 15.04, choosing English as language and Belgium as my country.
As a result, I get a very unnice de_BE.UTF-8 as my language.

Note that this problem exists also in 14.04.2 LTS and 14.10, whatever the *buntu flavor you choose (also seen in Lubuntu and Xubuntu). This is a problem in the locale generation mechanism, not in a KDE or Gnome specific tool.

[osmeest (osmeest)]

Could it be related to the fact that en_BE is not defined in /usr/share/i18n/locales/ ?
In that case, a similar result should be obtained by selecting a weird combination like en_FR...
But then, why does it default to de_BE ?!

[Jonas D. (jonasd-be)]

Hi

Confirming that this bug still affects 14.04.2 LTS, tested trough clean install with location setting to Brussels. result is a semi german interface => unexpected behaviour.

expected behaviour:
nl_BE locales (for correct punctuations) and default (selected) language locale (probably en_US) for LANG

[Carroarmato0 (carroarmato0)]

Still affects 15.10

[Nicky De Maeyer (nicky-demaeyer)]

confirming bug still present in 15.10...

[Jonas D. (jonasd-be)]

:/

On Sun, Dec 13, 2015, 14:25 Nicky De Maeyer <email address hidden>
wrote:

> confirming bug still present in 15.10...
>
> --
> You received this bug notification because you are subscribed to the bug
> report.
> https://bugs.launchpad.net/bugs/1295627
>
> Title:
> Wrong language (German) after fresh install
>
> Status in ubiquity package in Ubuntu:
> Confirmed
>
> Bug description:
> Fresh install from the live-cd (Daily build Xubuntu 14.04 - 32 bit).
> My location was determined as Brussels (which is correct).
>
>
> 1. Loginscreen : date and time in german
> 2. After login : date and time in german
> Locale is set to Deutsch ???
> 3. Ibus : keyboard-layout = German(?)-Belgian
>
> ProblemType: Bug
> DistroRelease: Ubuntu 14.04
> Package: ubiquity (not installed)
> ProcVersionSignature: Ubuntu 3.13.0-18.38-generic 3.13.6
> Uname: Linux 3.13.0-18-generic i686
> ApportVersion: 2.13.3-0ubuntu1
> Architecture: i386
> CurrentDesktop: XFCE
> Date: Fri Mar 21 13:07:03 2014
> InstallCmdLine: file=/cdrom/preseed/xubuntu.seed boot=casper
> initrd=/casper/initrd.lz quiet splash -- maybe-ubiquity
> InstallationDate: Installed on 2014-03-21 (0 days ago)
> InstallationMedia: Xubuntu 14.04 LTS "Trusty Tahr" - Alpha i386
> (20140320)
> SourcePackage: ubiquity
> UpgradeStatus: No upgrade log present (probably fresh install)
>
> To manage notifications about this bug go to:
>
> https://bugs.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+source/ubiquity/+bug/1295627/+subscriptions
>
--

Met vriendelijke groeten
Kind regards
Jonas

[Carroarmato0 (carroarmato0)]

Changing citizenship is probably faster. Too lazy to dig into the code and patch it if it takes a few clicks post-install ^^

[Maarten Peeters (mjpeeter)]

Bug is still present in 16.04 with a fresh install.

[Adrien (adrien-v)]

Almost 4 years after the first report, this bug is still present.
Fresh install from Ubuntu-MATE 17.10.
During installation, chosen language: English, location: Brussels.
All the menus are in English, but date and time are in German.
It can be solved by the user going to "Language support > Regional Format".

[Jonas D. (jonasd-be)]

 I guess we’re not important enough 😅

On 29 Jan 2018 at 13:36, Adrien <email address hidden> wrote:

Almost 4 years after the first report, this bug is still present.
Fresh install from Ubuntu-MATE 17.10.
During installation, chosen language: English, location: Brussels.
All the menus are in English, but date and time are in German.
It can be solved by the user going to "Language support > Regional Format".

--
You received this bug notification because you are subscribed to the bug
report.
https://bugs.launchpad.net/bugs/1295627

Title:
Wrong language (German) after fresh install

Status in ubiquity package in Ubuntu:
Confirmed

Bug description:
Fresh install from the live-cd (Daily build Xubuntu 14.04 - 32 bit).
My location was determined as Brussels (which is correct).

1. Loginscreen : date and time in german
2. After login : date and time in german
Locale is set to Deutsch ???
3. Ibus : keyboard-layout = German(?)-Belgian

ProblemType: Bug
DistroRelease: Ubuntu 14.04
Package: ubiquity (not installed)
ProcVersionSignature: Ubuntu 3.13.0-18.38-generic 3.13.6
Uname: Linux 3.13.0-18-generic i686
ApportVersion: 2.13.3-0ubuntu1
Architecture: i386
CurrentDesktop: XFCE
Date: Fri Mar 21 13:07:03 2014
InstallCmdLine: file=/cdrom/preseed/xubuntu.seed boot=casper
initrd=/casper/initrd.lz quiet splash -- maybe-ubiquity
InstallationDate: Installed on 2014-03-21 (0 days ago)
InstallationMedia: Xubuntu 14.04 LTS "Trusty Tahr" - Alpha i386 (20140320)
SourcePackage: ubiquity
UpgradeStatus: No upgrade log present (probably fresh install)

To manage notifications about this bug go to:
https://bugs.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+source/ubiquity/+bug/1295627/+subscriptions

[Amedee Van Gasse (amedee)]

According to user ikonia on IRC, this bug is the same on Debian, so we need to find the identical bug in Debian and see if it's being worked on there.

[Amedee Van Gasse (amedee)]

According to https://wiki.ubuntu.com/DebuggingUbiquity#Notes, this bug should be tagged with "ubi-language". So where does one set tags on a bug?

[Amedee Van Gasse (amedee)]

By the way, confirming that the bug is still present in Ubuntu 17.10.

[Luc Van der Veken (lucvdv)]

Ubuntu 18.04, still the same.
It looks like Germany won the war after all, at least for people living in Belgium.

[Amedee Van Gasse (amedee)]

I can confirm that 18.04 LTS still does not know the difference between Dutch and Deutch.

[Amedee Van Gasse (amedee)]

Maybe this should be filed as a translations bug? https://help.ubuntu.com/community/ReportingBugs#Filing_a_translation_bug

[Amedee Van Gasse (amedee)]

Language format in gnome-control-center is shown as "Belgien" (German word for Belgium).
Regional formats shows "Deutsch" (German, in German), expected: "Nederlands" (Dutch, in Dutch).

[Amedee Van Gasse (amedee)]

(pressed Enter too fast) and the Regional format can't be changed there.

[Gunnar Hjalmarsson (gunnarhj)]

Just noticed this bug report.

It's not a bug. You don't explicitly set the regional format in the installer, but the installer 'guesses' that setting based on the time zone location. So if you state Brussels for time zone, it seems to pick the de_BE.UTF-8 locale.

If you want something else, e.g. Dutch:

1. Install the Dutch language (to have the applicable locales generated)

2. Select Dutch as the region.

Closing.

[OliWare (oliware)]

Lol, 'this is not a bug'. The installer clearly guesses wrong, only 1% in Brussels speaks German. I want my installation in English but with the Belgian locale.

[Jonas D. (jonasd-be)]

@gunnarhj, "guessing" a locale should not use a locale used only by a very small percentage of people in Belgium.
From the format I'm going to assume it's picking the first locale it can find?
In that case I would actually suggest to remote de_BE from the default locale listing as it's a very niche market, see https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/German-speaking_Community_of_Belgium

[Gunnar Hjalmarsson (gunnarhj)]

@OliWare: You get a Belgian locale, just not the one you want.

@Jonas: I assume the same. We can't remove a locale for this reason; we have the locales provided by glibc.

But I suppose that the installer (ubiquity/localechooser) could be tweaked to 'guess better'. That would require some hard coded information about most common language in countries with multiple languages. Re-opening the ubiquity task.

[osmeest (osmeest)]

1) why not let the user choose ? When a country has multiple languages,
just show the list.

2) what if a Belgian user like me wants Belgium-English ? That's just
impossible to obtain... For once, Windows does it better with this regard.

Le mar. 18 sept. 2018 à 18:55, Gunnar Hjalmarsson <
<email address hidden>> a écrit :

> @OliWare: You get a Belgian locale, just not the one you want.
>
> @Jonas: I assume the same. We can't remove a locale for this reason; we
> have the locales provided by glibc.
>
> But I suppose that the installer (ubiquity/localechooser) could be
> tweaked to 'guess better'. That would require some hard coded
> information about most common language in countries with multiple
> languages. Re-opening the ubiquity task.
>
> ** Changed in: ubiquity (Ubuntu)
> Importance: Undecided => Medium
>
> ** Changed in: ubiquity (Ubuntu)
> Status: Invalid => Confirmed
>
> --
> You received this bug notification because you are subscribed to the bug
> report.
> https://bugs.launchpad.net/bugs/1295627
>
> Title:
> Wrong language (German) after fresh install
>
> To manage notifications about this bug go to:
>
> https://bugs.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+source/gnome-control-center/+bug/1295627/+subscriptions
>

[Gunnar Hjalmarsson (gunnarhj)]

1) I suppose that those responsible for the design of the installer want to keep it simple.

But, as I explained in comment #27, you can choose afterwards.

2) That would be quite a different approach to locale handling. A huge project.

[Gunnar Hjalmarsson (gunnarhj)]

Btw, Belgium-English is possible to obtain, sort of:

* Choose English as language

* Choose fr_BE.UTF-8 as region in the GUI

* Add this line to the ~/.profile file:

  export LC_TIME=en_DK.UTF-8

[Glotzbach (glotzbach)]

Physically in The Netherlands, set location in the installer to Brussels, Belgium. And I have German date in my top bar in 18.04 LTS...

A choice would indeed be nice, if there's more than one official languages for the location.

[Ben Van Aerde (benvanaerde)]

This is still an issue in Ubuntu 20.04.
I changed it manually:

Settings > Language and Region > Manage Installed Languages
Install/remove languages
choose: other (it only shows a small list at first), and check "Dutch".

Afterwards, go to tab "Regional Formats". Here, you'll see "Deutsch" as a display language for numbers, dates and currencies.
Now you can select "Nederlands (België)".

Press "Apply system-wide". After logging it again, it should be "solved".

[Alvin (alvind)]

This bug is still there in Ubuntu 20.10. You can change locales, but you should be able to choose something more sensible in the installer.

If the automatic guess is only good for a handful of people, manually is better.

[Gunnar Hjalmarsson (gunnarhj)]

On 2021-03-18 20:26, Alvin wrote:
> This bug is still there in Ubuntu 20.10.

Right, but it has been addressed for 21.04.

[Daniel van Vugt (vanvugt)]

Ubuntu 20.10 is a short-lived release so there won't be any updates to the installer where 20.10 can ever be fixed. And 20.10 reaches end of life in July (https://wiki.ubuntu.com/Releases).

The fix is in 21.04 already, and if you would like to see it in 20.04.3 then please click the nominate button in bug 1907914.