With this editorial, Arab News gives two cheers for the recent decision to allow Internet domain names to be issued in non-Latin alphabets. While this will allow countries like Saudi Arabia to issue domains in the Arabic script, the piece suggests that this is more a cultural feel-good exercise than one with much practical effect. English, the piece argues, and its Latin alphabet are dominant in the world and will continue to grow. English is both supplementing native languages and replacing them and there’s no turning back.
Yesterday’s decision by the Internet regulators to allow domain names in characters other than Latin ones is a major shot in the arm for cultural equality. Most people in the world do not speak languages written in the Latin script. Of the 1.6 billion Internet users worldwide (a quarter of the world’s population), more than half use languages written in other scripts. There are billions more as yet without access to a computer and the Internet, who largely live in Africa and Asia who likewise do not speak a language which uses Latin characters. They are potential users. The Internet, as the prime means of communication and information exchange alongside television and telephone, must be fully accessible to them. Enabling users to key in Arabic, Chinese, Hindi, Cyrillic or whatever scripts they use to access their chosen websites will show that all languages and cultures are regarded as equal in the Internet age. The Internet becomes truly global.
Whether increasing domain name characters from 30 to over 100,000 makes a great deal of practical difference is another matter.
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There’s something the piece does not discuss that I think important. While the use of native scripts will certainly make it easier for people using those scripts to use the Internet, it would also make sites using those scripts all but invisible to those using other scripts. Some people have multi-lingual keyboards and some software permits one to switch languages on the fly. But the fact is that most people do not know other alphabets. If I had to know Gujarati in order to search websites in Gujarat, it wouldn’t happen. The same with Chinese, Japanese, Korean, or dozens of other languages.
I know I was lucky to be born into an English-speaking culture; that saved me from having to learn English as a second language. The fact is, though, that English, in all its varieties, is the most spoken language on the planet. Websites that ignore that immediately cut themselves off from the majority of the globe’s population. That might make sense if a website is strictly local. It does not make sense if one is to make maximal use of the Internet.
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October:31:2009 - 11:57
Given the size of China, this effort may make sense for them, at least once the local market becomes as important as the international, but other than that the effort is mostly of technical interest. I can imagine the nightmare of having to install software on many thousands of routers.
One of the great assets India has had in the modern world is the widespread use of English in education (I guess the British Raj wasn’t all bad). One can say that all the top talent in India can read English. That means that there is little incentive, even in parts of Asia, to adopt Mandarin as a replacement lingua franca. Over time, if China really becomes the world’s top power, this may change but I am not betting on it.
October:31:2009 - 13:12
Joh, I learned English as one of my second languages, and as languages go, it is defenitly one of the easier ones to learn.
So I think it could be worse
October:31:2009 - 15:06
I think you found it easy because English is quite close to Dutch/Nerlandese! Had your first language been French or Korean, you’d find it a bit harder.
I find Engilsh to be difficult because it has so many irregularities; Arabic is difficult because it has such a massive vocabulary, though the grammar is quite simple.
October:31:2009 - 15:58
Well, German is much closer, but it has that bloody grammar… And if that is not enough, endless lists of words for which the grammar doesn’t apply and which have their own rules.
And Dutch has some weird stuff too!
French and Spanish have horrible grammars too… And the Spanish past tenses!
No, sorry, English is defenitely the easiest language I know.
October:31:2009 - 17:55
I think it is wonderful! While not replacing English, and while English would remain necessary for those websites that wish a more global reach, this effort would make the internet more accessible to those with no English or uncomfortable reading more complex texts in English. It would also diversify the discourse on the internet. Those who might know and wish the opportunity to read in other scripts would have a greater ease of doing so and more sites to choose from. Really wonderful for all!
November:01:2009 - 08:37
LOL, you’re a bit late to the party. ICANN has been issuing non-Latin domain names for many years, including Chinese and Cyrillic alphabets.
November:01:2009 - 14:43
True, but not ICANN is no more… power has been relegated to the national level, for the most part.