i18n and URL aliases: three times inconsequent?

Hi,

Trying to get the i18n module doing what I want it to do, I stumbled upon pretty inconsequent behaviour. Well, that's what I think. I know something like this has been reported in post http://drupal.org/node/21898, but that was for version cvs and very, very briefly. The post has been answered with a suggestion, but no comment has been given ever since.

As I think I'm struggling with the same problem, I'll give it another try - also because I think that (given the fact that I'm right) it can drive people mad. Watch this, I'll try carefully to describe what happens in my situation.

Concept
I made a site (www.newoceans.nl), with three languages:

• en         turned off: the original drupal language
• nl          turned on: my site's specific dutch language, turned on (and default)
• en-local  turned on: my site's specific english language, turned on

I made an extra english language, as I do not want to use all drupal's predefined strings the way they are predefined; i.e. I want to use "by" instead of "Submitted by" or something.

I have a weblog item about work in progress; it's translated, so it has two nodes:

• node 38: Werk in uitvoering (nl)
• node 69: Work in progress (en-local)

Well, let's create three different states now, and see what happens. First state is without using URL aliases. Second state is with using URL aliases, but without using language prefixes in them. Third state is with using URL aliases, and with using language prefixes in them. For every state I will look at node 38 in the dutch site (which is default), and see what the english language icons will tell me, both under the node itself and in the language block. There we go!

Without URL aliases
Well, there are no URL aliases to be defined. And this is the result:

• english icon under node: http://www.newoceans.nl/nl/node/69
  This refers to the english node in an overall dutch site
• english icon in the block: http://www.newoceans.nl/en-local/node/69
  This refers to the english node in an overall english site

With URL aliases, without language prefix
The URL aliases defined are:

• for node 38: actueel/weblog/werk-in-uitvoering
• for node 69: journal/blog/work-in-progress

And this is the result:

• english icon under node: http://www.newoceans.nl/nl/journal/blog/work-in-progress
  This refers to the english node in an overall dutch site
• english icon in the block: http://www.newoceans.nl/en-local/actueel/weblog/werk-in-uitvoering
  This refers to the dutch node in an overall english site

With URL aliases, with language prefix
The URL aliases defined are:

• for node 38: nl/actueel/weblog/werk-in-uitvoering
• for node 69: en-local/journal/blog/work-in-progress

And this is the result:

• english icon under node:
  http://www.newoceans.nl/en-local/journal/blog/work-in-progress
  This refers to the english node in an overall english site
• english icon in the block:http://www.newoceans.nl/en-local/actueel/weblog/werk-in-uitvoering
  This refers to the dutch node in an overall english site

Summary
For three different states of one situation, the english icon under the node succesively refers to:

• state 1 - english node in an overall dutch site
• state 2 - english node in an overall dutch site
• state 3 - english node in an overall english site

For three different states of one situation, the english icon in the block succesively refers to:

• state 1 - english node in an overall english site
• state 2 - dutch node in an overall english site
• state 3 - dutch node in an overall english site

This is not very consequent... And I think people won't understand the idea. Or may be I don't?

Questions (finally ;-D )
First, and of course: is this a bug? Or am I doing something wrong?

Second: I want the english icon in the block to use URL aliases and refer to the english node in an overall english site. I cannot find a way to achieve this. How should it be done?

Third: I want the english icon under the node to disappear. How should this be done?

Hope this post was clear enough to understand what I mean and may be it can help you to solve the problem. If there is one, of course...