When the text under an icon on the KDE desktop is too long to fit, the last few letters on the bottom line are faded. I understand that this is meant to show that the text has been truncated.
When the file names are in Hebrew (written right-to-left) fading text on the right side actually cuts the middle of the file name instead of the end. I've Googled and can't find a solution. I can think of 2 possible solutions but don't know how:
1 - disable the fading behavior
2 - have the fade on the left side (either always or when the text is in Hebrew)

KDE 4.10.2 - LINUX Mageia 3

Any ideas would be appreciated.

Are your applications otherwise displaying themselves in the correct right to left fashion, or is this not occurring either?
You can try running System Settings with the "-reverse" option to see if this is the case for instance.

First let me clarify - I'm running KDE with a normal English left-to-right interface. My only problem is with Hebrew icon text written right-to-left.

I tried what you suggested "systemsettings -reverse" and also "konsole -reverse". They both worked - menues were displayed right-to-left. Actually looked a bit wierd

As far as I can remember, on my previous KDE installation (Mandriva 2011 KDE 4.6.5) I didn't have this problem. I'm now running Mageia 3 KDE 4.10.2

I see. Can you please provide a screenshot of the elided text, and the application this is in? My guess is that this is a bug in Qt itself.

I prepared a screen shot, but I don't see an option to attach it to my reply. Can you help?

You'll need to post it to an external site such as Imageshack, and then post the link here. Attachments are disabled on the forums due to space constraints.

In case I was not clear - this problem is on the desktop - not in a specific application.

Here's a picture showing two files (one with an English name and one with a Hebrew name) on the desktop. I held the mouse above each before taking the picture so you can see the full name and the truncated name. As you can see, the English name is properly truncated, but in the Hebrew name, the middle of the name is missing.

I see. That would appear to be the Folder View applet / containment. I would recommend filing a bug at bugs.kde.org about that behaviour - it needs to use different text eliding behaviour depending on the type of text it is dealing with it seems, rather than the language of the system itself.