Language defaults to the GDM screen language on user login, even though the user selects a different language.

[SoloTurn]

Binary package hint: xorg

i am not sure if this is gdm, or gnome, or gnome-panel ... but everything is german even i chose english on the gdm login screen.

* starting up gdm from the command line does not display the language choose drop-down (drop-up)
* pressing "cancel" on the login then does
* the system is configured german, and i choose "english"
* after the login the language is still german
* on every window, e.g. firefox menu, gnome panel, terminal window and command prompt messages

additionally, there is no entry which can be easily seen in gnome panel, configuration, to change the language.

ProblemType: Bug
Architecture: i386
CurrentDmesg:
 [ 35.036042] eth0: no IPv6 routers present
 [ 167.083739] hda-intel: IRQ timing workaround is activated for card #0. Suggest a bigger bdl_pos_adj.
Date: Fri Mar 19 19:47:25 2010
DistroRelease: Ubuntu 10.04
DkmsStatus:
 nvidia-173, 173.14.22, 2.6.32-16-generic, i686: installed
 nvidia-current, 195.36.08, 2.6.32-16-generic, i686: installed
MachineType: MEDIONPC MS-7255
NonfreeKernelModules: nvidia
Package: xorg 1:7.5+3ubuntu1
ProcCmdLine: root=UUID=a14d2ce8-e8f8-4c7b-b386-a66f18578494 ro quiet splash
ProcEnviron:
 LANGUAGE=de_CH:de
 PATH=(custom, user)
 LANG=de_CH.UTF-8
 SHELL=/bin/bash
ProcVersionSignature: Ubuntu 2.6.32-16.25-generic
SourcePackage: xorg
Symptom: display
Uname: Linux 2.6.32-16-generic i686
dmi.bios.date: 01/10/2007
dmi.bios.vendor: Phoenix Technologies, LTD
dmi.bios.version: 6.00 PG
dmi.board.name: MS-7255
dmi.board.vendor: MICRO-STAR INTERNATIONAL CO., LTD
dmi.chassis.type: 3
dmi.chassis.vendor: MEDIONPC
dmi.modalias: dmi:bvnPhoenixTechnologies,LTD:bvr6.00PG:bd01/10/2007:svnMEDIONPC:pnMS-7255:pvr:rvnMICRO-STARINTERNATIONALCO.,LTD:rnMS-7255:rvr:cvnMEDIONPC:ct3:cvr:
dmi.product.name: MS-7255
dmi.sys.vendor: MEDIONPC
system:
 distro: Ubuntu
 codename: lucid
 architecture: i686
 kernel: 2.6.32-16-generic
xkbcomp:
 Error: command ['xkbcomp', ':0', '-w0', '-'] failed with exit code 1: No protocol specified
 Error: Cannot open display ":0"
                   Exiting

[mabawsa (mabawsa)]

I can confirm this with a Japanese GDM and English and Korean Users. With the latest Nvidia Drivers (don't know what it has to do with these though...)

[Sebastien Bacher (seb128)]

Thank you for taking the time to report this bug and helping to make Ubuntu better. Please answer these questions:

 * Is this reproducible?
 * If so, what specific steps should we take to recreate this bug?

 This will help us to find and resolve the problem.

[Sebastien Bacher (seb128)]

is that the same issue than bug #549101?

[mabawsa (mabawsa)]

Yes it is. Its a rather annoying bug that is a regression from Karmic.
1 Step to reproduce:
Switch the GDM to lets say Japanese. Log in as any other language and most (not all) of the system has Japanese Menus.
Completely reproducible on all 4 of my computers, worked perfectly in Karmic.

[Sebastien Bacher (seb128)]

the duplicate has better explanation and screenshots

[Sebastien Bacher (seb128)]

is that only an issue if you use the language selector in GNOME?

[mabawsa (mabawsa)]

Hi Sebastian not too sure what you mean? I am using the language selector from the login screen.

[Sebastien Bacher (seb128)]

did you use the language selector in the system menu too?

[mabawsa (mabawsa)]

OK once I move the selected language to the first position in the list I get the correct behaviour. Maybe this should be linked in with the login screen I think though.

Thanks,

Dougie

[Caleb Moore (donscarletti)]

This has nothing to do with GDM, this is related to the new way that Ubuntu handles languages in Gnome.

At the moment, the system language is set properly by GDM (as can be witnessed through Firefox for example) but ignored inside Gnome, the way languages are handled in Gnome is through a preferences list. The idea behind the preferences list is to allow a fallback option in case an application does not support a user's primary language, it can support a user's secondary language instead.

However, this comes at a cost of having to log out and then in again in order to change the primary language and gives a slightly tricky interface for configuration. Also, I do not believe that this reflects how a multi-language environment actually works, for example, my girlfriend and I use the same user account but different languages, it was quite easy with Karmic's system but extremely frustrating now.

The use case for this system is good for an African who speaks French as their second language or a dude from Transcaucasia or something that speaks Russian as their second language, but the vast majority of the world either have a primary language that has been fully translated, English as a second language, do not use Ubuntu, or all three. I think the bulk of users will want to be switching between two fully translated languages, since those are the popular ones and the old system was far better for that.

Anyway, GDM works flawlessly with respect to language, could someone re-file this?