You could try using Ubuntu Customization Kit available here http://uck.sourceforge.net
it let you create a custom distribution based on Ubuntu with packages you need. You should also be able to customize language pack, default language, keyboard layout ecc... I hope it helps.
There are many light weight distributions such as Lubuntu, Xubuntu, EasyPeasy (soon with 10.10 based version 1.7.), Puppy (still based on Lucid) - to name just a few - that have already done the job. If you need additional packages or another desktop you can alway install this later until your flash drive is full.
You could try using Ubuntu Customization Kit available here http://uck.sourceforge.net it let you create a custom distribution based on Ubuntu with packages you need. You should also be able to customize language pack, default language, keyboard layout ecc... I hope it helps.
There are many light weight distributions such as Lubuntu, Xubuntu, EasyPeasy (soon with 10.10 based version 1.7.), Puppy (still based on Lucid) - to name just a few - that have already done the job. If you need additional packages or another desktop you can alway install this later until your flash drive is full.