Language bug?

Hi all,
I recently upgraded my Z10 to OS 10.3. Worked like a breeze.

OS 10.3 distinguishes between "Language" and "Region". That's a good thing. So if I change my device's language, the regional settings (date/time format, currency...) stay the same. And if I change my region, the language ... oops ...

I currently reside in Germany. I need my regional settings to be German because of that but I do not want my BB to show German language. But it does. When I change the Region to Germany (while my Language is still set to English (US)), the date shown on the Homescreen is displayed in German. So it does not show "Sun, 1. Mar", it shows "So., 1. M�r".

Is that a bug or a feature? Can I configure the date display separately in any way? Can I configure anything on the Homescreen at all for that matter?

Best regards,
Sun

Stupidly simple, poorly translated, basic stuff happens in other languages too???

I thought it was just Portuguese_BR!

Double check your settins, make sure they are all the way you want and reboot the device: hold the top buttom till you see a red LED flash and the BlackBerry logo. Ignore on-screen prompts to reboot/turn off.

Originally Posted by sundanze

OS 10.3 distinguishes between "Language" and "Region".

Language and region are not new to 10.3.

Originally Posted by sundanze

I currently reside in Germany. I need my regional settings to be German because of that but I do not want my BB to show German language. But it does. When I change the Region to Germany (while my Language is still set to English (US)), the date shown on the Homescreen is displayed in German. So it does not show "Sun, 1. Mar", it shows "So., 1. M�r".

Works as designed. Region adjusts the handling of dates, currency and numbers. If you select the German region, then it displays the date in the German convention including using German words.
Mixing English words with German convention would just be more confusing.

Originally Posted by sundanze

Is that a bug or a feature? Can I configure the date display separately in any way? Can I configure anything on the Homescreen at all for that matter?

Likewise, allowing every date/currency/number to be displayed differently according to every user's whim would make for some very buggy software. Every mini feature like this complicates the software, the user experience and bloats the OS.
Even if you are not German native, you probably already know all the week days, months etc. It's just your brain grasping for the familiar. Give it time. ;)

Originally Posted by baarn

Works as designed. Region adjusts the handling of dates, currency and numbers. If you select the German region, then it displays the date in the German convention including using German words.
Mixing English words with German convention would just be more confusing.

You can't be serious. BB OS would be the first OS to do it that way. If I set my date format to "mmm-yyyy" then it should read "Mar-2015" if my language is set to English. The format string (and every programming lanugage works that way too) "mmm" should translate to the thre letter month abbreviation of the selected language. That's why formatting strings were invented for in the first place. There is nothing confusing about it. Either you separate language from formatting or you don't. This cannot be by design.

Originally Posted by sundanze

You can't be serious. BB OS would be the first OS to do it that way.

It is for exclusive features like this that we love BlackBerry, no? ;)

Originally Posted by sundanze

If I set my date format to "mmm-yyyy" then it should read "Mar-2015" if my language is set to English. The format string (and every programming lanugage works that way too) "mmm" should translate to the thre letter month abbreviation of the selected language. That's why formatting strings were invented for in the first place. There is nothing confusing about it. Either you separate language from formatting or you don't. This cannot be by design.

We're not talking low level format strings here where you can specify the date however you like. This is a high level "region" construct where BlackBerry does what it thinks is most sensible under the given conditions for the most people.
People write dates differently all over the world, some DMY, some MDY, some YMD and probably a bunch of other variations. At least with DMY and YMD there is scope for confusion in situations where the year is abbreviated (I won't argue how much of an issue or how common abbreviation is, I assume BlackBerry has looked into such things already). Treating the month name as a symbol which is not translated eliminates this confusion. Besides, if a country has an official layout for dates, I would assume that a foreign language would not be part of that format (I hope).

In any case, I'd wager most people use a region setting that is related to their language setting. This mixed usage is already a bit niche.