MULTILINGUALISM ON THE INTERNET Cheryl RoldanWGB 070010 Mgmt

MULTILINGUALISM ON THE INTERNET Cheryl Roldan-WGB 070010 Mgmt of Internet Resources (WXGB 6310) Feb 7, 2009

I. Definition of Terms n Multilingualism n speaking several languages- able to speak more than two languages n involving several languages – relating to the use of more than two languages n Internet is a network that links computer networks all over the world by satellite and telephone, connecting users with service networks such as e-mail and the World Wide Web. n Machine Translation (MT) Technology n computer translation: the translation of text from one language to another by computer.

II. Introduction and Historical Overview • The Internet has originated in the United States and currently most international correspondence takes place in English. • The arrival of Internet predicts two distinct directions. English monopoly § decline of other languages Plural culture (Fruitful and plural global culture) § various cultures in different countries thrive and interchange with each other § diverse texts in various languages are expected to freely move around on the Internet. • In the last few years there has been technological progress towards the second direction.

III. Issues/Challenges n Urban-Rural Divide n Technical Issue n Technological issues International character code system n Input/output system n Translation-support technology n English monolingual to a multilingual environment n

IV. Technology n A. Universal multiple-octet Coded Character Set (UCS), authorized as ISO/IEC-10646 -1 in 1993, offers a large number of characters for various languages. n B. MT Technology Two Kinds of Translations: 1. Traditional Translation 2. Real-time interpretation of spoken language Translation in the Internet era : Two properties in MT products for Internet communication: 1. Interactivity – The MT products must allow users to freely edit and/or modify their translation output. 2. Evolution – Users must make their MT products evolve and develop in such a way that it becomes more and more useful for them through their own utilization efforts.

V. Effect of Multilingualism on the Net A multilingual Internet will enhance the local Internet experience in large regions of the world by enabling to share and access information or use services offered in their own languages. Information available in different languages can enrich awareness about myriad cultures, foster appreciation of diversity, and perhaps, inspire greater respect and curiosity and decrease fear or animosity towards an unknown.

VI. Initiatives The UNESCO Babel Initiative International Telecommunication Union This initiative aims to … paying particular attention to emerging communication technologies such as the Internet and digital products, in order to preserve and improve cultural and linguistic diversity. The ITU mission: bringing the benefits of ICT to all the world’s inhabitants The Government of India To encourage its more than 1 billion citizens to generate Internet content in many of its 22 official languages. It is providing CD’s free of charge that contain instructions for generating content. Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers Core value: Preserve and enhancing the operational stability, reliability, security, and global interoperability of the Internet while respecting the creativity, innovation, and flow of information made possible by the Internet. Language/Power, Institute of Social Sciences, University of Tokyo Interdisciplinary academic forum that discusses on how people with different nationalities and languages can constitute an online community.

VII. Language Translation Software 1) 2) 3) 4) 5) 6) 7) 8) Translation Office 3000 Computer Aided translation Bd. Translator All Translator Software Translation Pad Google Translate , free online translation Yahoo Babel Fish, free online translation Others…

VIII. Conclusion n 21 st century, The New Great Age of Translation. (Nishigaki, 1997) n A computer-supported translation technology is now expected to contribute significantly to the multilingual communication on the Internet. n It is important to enable everybody to send messages in his/her own mother tongue n A multilingual environment on the Internet can be expected to have preferable effect on foreign language education, which will result in the promotion of deep cultural interchange.

VIII. Conclusion…con’t n New Global Culture - New electronic media like the Internet are now interconnecting those different languages with each other n The goal of multilingualism on the Internet is perfect global communication where everybody on earth can utilize the Internet on equal footing. n It aims at interconnecting various peoples with each other, while preserving the plurality of culture and language.

References Nishigaki, Toru (September 1999). Multilingualism on the Net. http: //www. unesco. org/webworld/infoethics_2/eng/papers/paper_5. htm (accessed Jan 11, 2009). Nishigaki, Toru (September 1999). What Can MT do for Multilingualism on the Net. Paper presented at the Machine Translation Summit VIII. www. mt-archive. info/MTS-1999 -Nishigaki. pdf (accessed January 10, 2009). Sengupta, Gautam. (9 -11 May 2006). Multilingualism on the Internet: an Indian perspective. Paper presented at the Joint UNESCO and ITU Global symposium on promoting the Multilingual Internet, Geneva, Switzerland. http: //www. itu. int/ITU-T/worksem/multilingual/presentations/S 9 -Rabbani. pdf (accessed Jan 10, 2009). Twomey, Paul (January 2007). Effect of multilingualism on the Internet: international issues that affect how governments and economics address issues to a global infrastructure. Panel discussion at the NSF/OECD workshop on social and economic factors shaping the future of the Internet, Arlington, Virginia. http: //www. oecd. org/dataoecd/12/18/38014552. pdf (accessed January 11, 2009). UNESCO. The UNESCO B@bel Initiative: promotion and use of multilingualism and universal access to cyberspace. http: //portal. unesco. org/education/en/ev. php. URL_ID=19749&URL_DO=DO_TOPIC&URL _SECTION=201. html (accessed January 10, 2009). Google Translate http: //translate. google. com Yahoo Babel Fish http: //babelfish. yahoo. com Thank you