I never knew Excel localized function names. If I have an xlsx that uses a German-localized function like SUMME, will it error out when ran on an English-localized machine? Since they can localize function names, effectively mapping (presumably) English function names to characters in each supported language, shouldn't an inverse function be feasible? One that would map SUMME to SUM, or some other unique identifier?
Under normal circumstances it gets mapped to the right localised variant when the sheet is opened on a different machine. So on your own machine you see and enter the things you're used to. The issues come when working on someone else's machine, or when that automatic process fails for some reason -- a friend of mine sometimes runs into that, where it just inexplicably... doesn't.
I don't know about these days, but I implemented an XLS reader 20 years ago.
The cell formulas were actually stored in Reverse Polish Notation with each function represented as a number. The actual ASCII you entered was never stored anywhere.
It's probably the most interesting and amusing file format detail I ever stumbled upon.
There are few obscure functions that have parameters and those parameters can come in home language - so they will stop working. Also there are some issues with charts.
In general Excel is made for corporations and people from different countries send each other files all the time.
However it would be nice to be able to dynamically switch language. There are few websites that translates formulas.
I am also annoyed by this and just resort to an all English office installation most times. However, for the office user market it is a clear advantage. This way anyone can pick up the tool and discover.
