Comment 5 for bug 803858

This feature is currently being discussed on this thread:
https://lists.ubuntu.com/archives/ubuntu-desktop/2011-July/003137.html

We are struggling to define what the requirement is for being able to change language from the login screen. What we have come up with so far:
- It is easier than logging in, using the control panel then logging out (limitation of how GNOME currently does language support)
- Setting language for new users (no longer applicable as the Oneiric control center allows the language to be set at user creation).
- You need to be able to choose the language for the guest session (currently doesn't get used for GDM anyway, this is probably better supported by having a welcome screen to the guest session with a language choice).
- Handy for testing (not a requirement for default installations. Testers can use other methods to do this, e.g. a zenity dialog run from the .profile)
- The feature already exists in GDM (invalid as this is not a requirement, we should only keep this feature if there is a need for it)
- We spent a lot of time making it work (invalid as this is not a requirement)

I've talked to a number of non-English users and they do NOT have a requirement for this. They set the language once (at install time) and then never change it. New users that are added to a system set it once after the first login and then never change it.

A number of people have said "we need this to switch between Chinese and English for regular use" or similar, but we need to define exactly:
- What sort of users are these? Are these typical users or power users?
- Why do they change language so frequently - is there a better method of fulfilling this requirement?