Using some kind of language neutral codes, numeric or otherwise, might be
theoretically (and politically) correct, but it strikes me as a disaster
from the standpoint of usability. It is reasonable to expect that the vast
majority of users of UBL in the foreseeable future will understand English
better than arcane abbreviations and the like. Didn't some French guy say
"the best is the enemy of the good"? If even the French agree with taking
the practical approach, who are we to disagree? ;-)
I don't see the difference between tag names and codelists in terms of
naming, or why our approach to the two should be different. Since we all
seem to agree (rightly in my opinion) that tag names should be clear and
human-readable, why wouldn't this apply to codelists?
In other words, the label for Romania should be "Romania". It's just as easy
to map this into "Roumanie" as it is for ROU or 642.
Matt