Many Fedora users take advantage of the fact that Fedora is internationalized, which means it can be used by people that communicate in different languages. Fedora provides support for displaying information on the screen for many different languages. There is also support for different input methods allowing users to input text for native languages where the number of characters is greater than keys on their keyboard.

Fedora 22 introduces a wide range of Internationalization improvements ranging from a new character application in Fedora Workstation, improvements to the IBus input method framework, support for Unicode 7, and new locales & fonts.

New Characters application

The Unicode with each new releases introduces interesting and very useful characters for everyone. However, as more and more characters get added, it becomes difficult to remember and use these all these characters, especially if you are trying to remember the Unicode ID of a specific character and, use a compose key combination, or have to install unusual keyboard layouts.

GNOME characters application developed specifically to solve this need. It presents a range of different useful characters that are catergorized and searchable. Simply find the character you need, and copy paste it where you need it. The new GNOME Characters application can be installed via the Software application on Fedora Workstation, or using the command

sudo dnf install gnome-characters

Improvements in IBus

IBus is an integrated input method framework in GNOME. It helps to manage multiple language keyboard layouts. It is also used widely in other Desktop environments including KDE. Users will notice following improvements in IBus

On GNOME lock screen Input method engines are hidden now.

Users using multiple input method in non-GNOME desktops will see language code rather than layout code in IBus panel.

A user’s IBus input method engines will automatically load when logging into GNOME, allowing them to switch engines without waiting for them to load.

Unicode 7.0 support

Unicode 7.0 adds a total of 2,834 characters, encompassing 23 new scripts, two currency symbols (manat & ruble), many new pictographic and geometric symbols, and character additions to many existing scripts. Glibc is updated from Unicode 5.1 to Unicode 7.0, providing added support for 8000 new characters and corrected data for number of existing characters.

DNF Langpacks Plug-in

Users can install packages for particular languages in single command with langpacks. With the migration in Fedora 22 from YUM to DNF, the DNF langpacks plugin allows users to install packages for there languages with the same way, but with DNF. To list all langpacks, use the command

dnf --help|grep lang

New Chechen locale for the Russian Federation

The Chechen language is spoken by more than 1.4 million people, mostly in Chechnya and by Chechen people elsewhere. Fedora 22 introduces the new Chechen locale for the Russian Federation (ce_RU) which helps to setup language environment.

New Rajasthani locale for India

The Rajasthani language is spoken by more than 20 million people, mostly in India and highly used in the local areas of India (Rajasthan). Fedora 22 introduces the new Rajasthani locale for the India which helps to setup language environment.

Fonts for Odia language

The Google Noto font family was added back in Fedora 19. These font packages are now updated to the latest ustream version, adding support for the Odia language. Install the new packages

google-noto-sans-oriya-fonts

and

google-noto-sans-oriya-ui-fonts

to start using these fonts.

New Input method for Marathi language

Minglish is a new Marathi language m17n input method. This input method provides keyboard layout that solve problems with existing phonetic input methods. For more information visit the change proposal on the Fedora Wiki.