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   <sect3 id="localechooser">
   <title>Selecting Localization Options</title>

<para>

In most cases the first questions you will be asked concern the selection
of localization options to be used both for the installation and for the
installed system. The localization options consist of language, location
and locales.

</para><para>

The language you choose will be used for the rest of the installation
process, provided a translation of the different dialogs is available.
If no valid translation is available for the selected language, the
installer will default to English.

</para><para>

The selected geographic location (in most cases a country) will be used
later in the installation process to select the correct time zone and a
&debian; mirror appropriate for that country.
Language and country together will help determine the default locale for
your system and select the correct keyboard layout.

</para><para>

You will first be asked to select your preferred language. The language
names are listed both in English (left side) and in the language itself
(right side); the names on the right side are also shown in the proper
script for the language. The list is sorted on the English names.
At the top of the list is an extra option that allows you to select the
<quote>C</quote> locale instead of a language. Choosing the <quote>C</quote>
locale will result in the installation proceeding in English; the installed
system will have no localization support as the <classname>locales</classname>
package will not be installed.

</para><para>

Next you will be asked to select your geographic location. If you selected
a language that is recognized as an official language for more than one
country<footnote>

<para>
In technical terms: where multiple locales exist for that language with
differing country codes.
</para>

</footnote>, you will be shown a list of only those countries. To select a
country that is not in that list, choose <guimenuitem>other</guimenuitem>
(the last option). You will then be presented with a list of continents;
selecting a continent will lead to a list of relevant countries on that
continent.

</para><para>

If the language has only one country associated with it, a list of countries
will be displayed for the continent or region the country belongs to, with
that country selected as the default. Use the &BTN-GOBACK;
option to select countries on a different continent.

</para><note><para>

It is important to select the country where you live or where you are
located as it determines the time zone that will be configured for the
installed system.

</para></note><para>

If you selected a combination of language and country for which no locale is
defined and there exist multiple locales for the language, then the installer
will allow you to choose which of those locales you prefer as the default
locale for the installed system<footnote>

<para>
At medium and low priority you can always select your preferred locale from
those available for the selected language (if there's more than one).
</para>

</footnote>. In all other cases a default locale will be selected based on
the selected language and country.

</para><para>

Any default locale selected as described in the previous paragraph will use
<firstterm>UTF-8</firstterm> as character encoding.

</para><para>

If you are installing at low priority, you will have the option
of selecting additional locales, including so-called <quote>legacy</quote>
locales<footnote>

<para>
Legacy locales are locales which do not use UTF-8, but one of the older
standards for character encoding such as ISO&nbsp;8859-1 (used by West
European languages) or EUC-JP (used by Japanese).
</para>

</footnote>, to be generated for the installed system; if you do, you will
be asked which of the selected locales should be the default for the
installed system.

</para>
   </sect3>
