I've update my old 9736 SVN version to a new one, 13388. It's a big pleasure to see many new features, but I have no sound at all!
Yes, I have not a last version of SDL_mixer and timidity++, but anyway. I have Fedora 8, and I can hear sounds in media players and other. So, problem is not in my system.
Just to be 100%-sure, tomorrow I'll try to install last version of SDL_mixer and timidity++, recompile UFO:AI and report my results.
And about choosing a language at startup. In my case (1024x768), no fullscreen, I just CAN'T choose English language just because it's in a bottom of a list, and it's not seen on my resolution!
I think choosing English language by default is a correct way. 8-)