Providing data based on language choice

A method of providing, in a language, a first data record that is stored in a database, the method comprising:

• determining that said first data record is to be provided to a client application program in said language, said client application program being an accounting application, said first data record comprising a number that represents a concept that said first data record does not represent in the form of words of a spoken language, said determining that said first data record is to be provided in said language being made based on a logon credential of a user, said user having previously indicated an explicit language choice to be associated with said logon credential, said database collecting said logon credential before allowing said user to access data in said database;
• determining that conversion information for said language is not stored in said database;
• receiving said conversion information either from said client or from a device on which said client operates, said conversion information comprising a table that defines a correspondence between (a) numbers and (b) words in said language, said table containing a plurality of rows, each of said rows comprising (a) a number that is used in said first data record to represents a concept and (b) a corresponding word in said language;
• installing said conversion information in said database;
• using said conversion information, from said database, to convert said first data record into said language by converting a number in said first data record into a word in said language;
• and
• providing, to said client, a representation of said first data record in said language.

A system comprising:

• a processor;
• and
• one or more executable components that execute on said processor, that manage a database in which a data record is stored, that retrieve said data record in response to a query, that receive an indication of a language in which data is to be provided to an accounting application client program that connects to said database in order to retrieve records from said database, that determine whether conversion information that describes how to convert said data record into said language is stored in said database, that obtain said conversion information from said accounting application client program, or from a machine on which said program runs, that convert said data record to a representation in said language using said conversion information, and that provide said representation to said program;
• said data record stored in said database containing representations of concepts in numeric form rather than as words in any spoken language;
• said indicating of said language in which data is to be provided being in a form of a logon credential associated with a user, said database collecting said logon credential before allowing said user to access data in said database, said user having explicitly specified that said language is to be associated with said logon credential;
• said conversion information comprising a table that defines a correspondence between numbers that represent said concepts and words in said language in which data is to be provided;
• conversion of said data record being performed by converting numbers in said data record to corresponding words in said language as defined by said table;
• said conversion information comprising a file that defines a correspondence between a number that is used in said data record and a word that is part of said language, said file being part of a language pack that is installed on said machine, said language pack comprising said file and a label that describes said language.