Comment 24 for bug 531173

Rich: the problem is that the gnome-settings-daemon shows a keyboard indicator applet on the panel when the Ubuntu-specific "indicator applet" isn't shown.

As I've noted in comment #21, The gnome-settings-daemon keyboard indicator does not indicate the layout - it just shows a keyboard icon and you actually have to open it to figure out what layout is being used. The Ubuntu specific indicator applet that uses a menu system to show icons for "activities" (*) works correctly, but this bug report is not about the "indicator applet", its about the gnome-settings-daemon keyboard applet.

(*) which is a weird distinction - I understand how copying files is an activity and possibly how being connected to the network in activity, but I don't see how having a volume control or a keyboard layout control is an activity.