I've written a script (PHP) to convert UTF to English characters. I've successfully stored this in the TRANSNAME (person) field, but my skin will not display the translated name. Direct database access displays the translated name. In EDIT mode, the translated name is displayed in the edit box.
<column width="135" halign="right">
<fieldlabel field="transname" autosize="true"><font><bold/><color>$000000</color></font></fieldlabel>
</column>
<column>
<transname autosize="true"><font><color>$0000ff</color><bold/></font></transname>
</column>
Using translated names as a sort criteria (for my language) is significantly better for me in finding people. I suppose this is true for everyone (for those that care), in whatever language they are most comfortable with. My script is set up similar to the LNG files, so it could be used in a similar fashion (I think PHP is about a 7mb download...my script is about 140 lines).