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The Polyglottal InternetThe Internet started off as a purely American phenomenon and seemed to perpetuate the fast-emerging dominance of the English language. A negligible minority of web sites were in other languages. Software applications were chauvinistically ill-prepared (and still are) to deal with anything but English. And the vast majority of net users were residents of the two North-American colossi, chiefly the USA. All this started to change rapidly about two years ago. Early this year, the number of American users of the Net was surpassed by the swelling tide of European and Japanese ones. Non-English web sites are proliferating as well. The advent of the wireless Internet - more widespread outside the USA - is likely to strengthen this unmistakable trend. By 2005, certain analysts expect non-English speakers to make up to 70% of all netizens. This fragmentation of an hitherto unprecedentedly homogeneous market - presents both opportunities and costs. It is much more expensive to market in ten languages than it is in one. Everything - from e-mail to supply chains has to be re-tooled or customized. It is easy to translate text in cyberspace. Various automated, web-based, and free applications (such as Babylon or Travlang) cater to the needs of the casual user who doesn't mind the quality of the end-result. Virtually every search engine, portal and directory offers access to these or similar services. But straightforward translation is only one kind of solution to the tower of Babel that the Internet is bound to become. Enter WorldWalla. A while back I used their multi-lingual e-mail application. It converted text I typed on a virtual keyboard to images (of characters). My addressees received the message in any language I selected. It was more than cool. It was liberating. Along the same vein, WorldWalla's software allows application and content developers to work in 66 languages. In their own words: "WordWalla allows device manufacturers and application developers to meet this challenge by developing products that support any language. This simplifies testing and configuration management, accelerates time to market, lowers unit costs and allows companies to quickly and easily enter new markets and offer greater levels of personalization and customer satisfaction." GlobalVu converts text to device-independent images. GlobalEase Web is a "Java-based multilingual text input and display engine". It includes virtual keyboards, front-end processors, and a contextual processor and text layout engine for left to right and right to left language formatting. They have versions tailored to the specifications of mobile devices. The secret is in generating and processing images (bitmaps), compressing them and transmitting them. In a way, WordWalla generates a FACSIMILE message (the kind we receive on our fax machines) every time text is exchanged. It is transparent to both sender and receiver - and it makes a user-driven polyglottal Internet a reality. Other articles by this author »
About Sam Vaknin, Ph.D.
Sam Vaknin is the author of "Malignant Self Love - Narcissism
Revisited" and "After the Rain - How the West Lost the East". He is
a columnist in "Central Europe Review", United Press International
(UPI) and ebookweb.org and the editor of mental health and Central
East Europe categories in The Open Directory, Suite101 and
searcheurope.com. Until recently, he served as the Economic Advisor
to the Government of Macedonia. Related
And here is another random article you might be interested in... Defining Success Your Way!Our society defines success primarily around three elements: power, money and fame. Many of you reading this may be saying, "wait a minute â€"those elements are not the most important things to me." Success is often intangible. It's certainly unique to each person. Have you considered how you will know when you are successful? For one of my career coaching clients, a definition of success is having autonomy in her work. She wants to set her own goals and direct her own activities. She's considering part-time consulting work as a transition to her success. Another client defines success as a satisfying family and personal life â€" she's looking for work that allows her flexible hours and telecommuting days. In her book, "If Success is a Game, These Are the Rules", Cherie Carter-Scott gives several examples of success:
Can you come up with 3 ways to measure success for yourself? Remember, there is not a universal standard or "right" definition of success. Define what's truly important to you. Once you've figured out what success means to you, you can realign your life, goals, and relationships around these priorities. A great way to start the process of defining success is to complete these sentences: The people I view as successful are.... I feel successful when..... My symbols of success are.... I will feel like a success when I.... You'll need to work with your statements until they feel or sound just right. Once you've defined success, start taking action to reach it. Set powerful goals and get the support you need to reach them. Expect and learn how to cope with barriers such as fear of change, your "yeah buts" and fear of identity change. Success is a process that never ends. As you reach the height of one goal you'll see another mountaintop you'll want to climb. Along the way, don't forget to appreciate what you already have and to celebrate each small accomplishment that leads to the grand prize! Other articles by this author »
About Ann Ronan, Ph.D.
Ann Ronan, Ph.D., Certified Career Coach and author, works with
professionals in career transition. She offers a FREE e-course on
the Top Ten Ways To Live Authentically. To learn more about this
step-by-step program and to sign up for FREE how-to articles and
FREE teleclasses, visit http://www.authenticlifeinstitute.com. Related
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