The discussion was very useful to me. But I'm not quite done yet :-) Grosso modo we have two kinds of languaged strings: a) appellations (names, titles, terms, i.e. identifiers); b) annotations (statements, notes etc.). Right ? For these entities, we have to deal with translations, transliterations and orthographical variations. Right ? So, simplifying (and shortcutting and ignoring - as a simpler case - the annotations), I would suggest things like these: 1) person appellation: <name type="real"> <version xml:lang="en"> <segment type="forename">Pieter</namePart> <segment type="surname"> <variant preferred="true">Bruegel</variant> <variant>Brueghel</variant> <variant>Breueghel</variant> </segment> the Elder, called Peasant Bruegel, also called Pieter the Droll </version> <version xml:lang="fr"> <segment type="forename">Pieter</namePart> <segment type="surname"> <variant preferred="true">Bruegel</variant> <variant>Brueghel</variant> <variant>Breueghel</variant> </segment> le Vieux ou l'Ancien, dit Bruegel le Rustique, dit aussi Bruegel le Drôle </version> <version xml:lang="ro"> <segment type="forename">Pieter</namePart> <segment type="surname"> <variant>Bruegel</variant> <variant>Brueghel</variant> <variant preferred="true">Breueghel</variant> </segment> cal Bătrân, zis Breughel al Țăranilor </version> <name> 2) person appellation: <name>Aristotle</name <name> <version xml:lang="en">The Stagirite</version> <version xml:lang="ro">Stagiritul</version> <version xml:lang="fr">Le Stagirite</version> </name> 3) manifestation appellation: <title xml:lang="ru"> <value>Война и мир</value> <transliteration standard="?">Voyna i mir</transliteration> <translation xml:lang="en"> <value>War and Peace</value> <transliteration standard="none"> Уор енб пеаке</transliteration> </translation> </title> (where <value> is the "original" and the others are "transformations"). Is that sophisticated enough ? Dan PS. Please note that I'm not dealing with different personas (pardon the simplifications), like: persona a1 <name>Bill Clinton</name> <name type="at birth">William Jefferson Blythe III</name> persona a2 <appellation>Bill Clinton (governor of Arkansas, 1979-1981, 1983-1992)</appellation> persona a3 <appellation>Bill Clinton (president of the United States, 1993-2001)</appellation> persona b1 <appellation>Charles Lutwidge Dodgson (English mathematician)</appellation> persona b2 <appellation>Lewis Carroll, (English writer)</appellation> ----------------------------------------------------------------------- Dan Matei, director CIMEC - Institutul de Memorie Culturala [Institute for Cultural Memory] Piata Presei Libere nr. 1, CP 33-90 013701 București [Bucharest], Romania, www.cimec.ro tel. (+4)021 317 90 72; fax (+4)021 317 90 64 www.cimec.ro