This is only a curiosity but can be useful for other staff and not only for language.
I'm running Debian Squeeze with fluxbox.
I have tried to change locale in fluxbox using:
export LANG=de_DE.UTF-8
and every terminal I open now is in dutch. This is ok but if I open other program (for example Gimp) in the same session still in English.
So I put the command "export LANG=de_DE.UTF-8" in a .bashrc file and I open a new X session. Everything was in Dutch.

This means, for me, that X (or the terminal that has runned X) isn't aware that the LANG variable is changed.

Is there a way to "talk with X or the terminal that ran X" and say him: hey, recheck the .bashrc file because something has been changed!? As explained before I want this for the current session and without logout

Thanks

Bre

I'm not sure about the procedure of changing the locale in Debian, but you can source your .bashrc by issuing:

How can this be Dutch when LANG=de_DE is German? Dutch locale is nl_NL.