SS_translation find_translation(String pref_lang_locale, String format)
  {
	String loc = pref_lang_locale;
	do
	  {
	        // System.out.println("==locale=" + loc + "  format=" + format);
		/* see if this format string exists in the transsets */
		SS_translationset ts = trans_by_lang.get(loc);
		// System.out.println("== ts is " + ts);
		if (ts != null)
		  {
			/* see if this script is one of the scripts here */
			SS_translation st = ts.by_format.get(format);
			if (st != null)
			  {
				return st;
			  }
		  }
		loc = strip_locale(loc);
	  }
	while( loc != null && loc.lastIndexOf('_') != -1 );
	
	/* wait a minute, we really should revert to "en" if nothing else works */
	if (loc != null && !loc.equals("en"))
	  return find_translation("en", format);
	
	return null;
  }