Web Internationalization

[swanny]

Hello......
I was wondering does any one have a "clear" and
"consise" grasp of this...?
I find the whole thing rather "boggeling.
Could some perhaps surmarize and simplify it for
those like myself?
For instance, is this proposing a "global" language
of sorts? And if so, what is it or why does it have
to be so complicated?
Your thoughts and help would be appreciated.
Thankyou
Swanny

Link = http://www.w3.org/International/Activity.html

 

[broken_keyboard]

No, they are not proposing an International language. They are just proposing a way for foreigners to represent their dumb overcomplicated languages inside a computer, if they even know what a computer is.

 

[4409723]

No, they are not proposing an International language. They are just proposing a way for foreigners to represent their dumb overcomplicated languages inside a computer, if they even know what a computer is.

Ouch, that's harsh and narrow-minded. I hope you are not serious.

My attempt to simplify this would be that when the Internet was created there was little interest in making it compatible with other languages.

www.français.com

The cedilla makes it act unpredictably, but for some reason, loads a website
on my computer.

Trying to connect to:

www.é.com makes Firefox try to connect to: www.xn--9ca.com

Perculiar.

Also, in languages that have a different way of writing such as Chinese and Arabic more issues arise.

 

[blackfox]

No, they are not proposing an International language. They are just proposing a way for foreigners to represent their dumb overcomplicated languages inside a computer, if they even know what a computer is.

Though I doubt you are serious (I hope), it is my understanding that English is one of the more complicated languages to learn, with all of the irregular verbs and what not. Sort of like Portuguese in this respect.

Perhaps I am wrong, just a take.

As for the topic, Wes did a decent job of explaining.

 

[4409723]

Though I doubt you are serious (I hope), it is my understanding that English is one of the more complicated languages to learn, with all of the irregular verbs and what not. Sort of like Portuguese in this respect.

Perhaps I am wrong, just a take.

As for the topic, Wes did a decent job of explaining.

I'm not a linguist but there always seem to be debates over which languages are hardest to learn and whatnot but I believe that's a side-issue as people should have the right to converse [and connected to URLs] in their language [and respective character sets] of choice online as much as in person.

It should be a matter of time before a standard is adopted to allow for this.

 

[kettle]

Ouch, that's harsh and narrow-minded. I hope you are not serious.

I hope he's serious, because it's the people who have the narrower more focused view that get things done. If the internet was left to people who think in wishy washy idealist perfect world pamphlet speak, the closest we would have got is some form of teletext where any user input would be limited to multiple choice from an approved list of responses.

It's the way of the world and the whole point of a language, you understand it or you don't. If you want to know what is said you have to learn. It would be ridiculous (and redundant) to have everyone on earth learn all languages so why would you design an efficient system of communication like the internet to do so. People can adapt the internet to be flexible to other languages, but don't expect it to work as well as it could.

My attempt to simplify this would be that when the Internet was created there was little interest in making it compatible with other languages.

So yes, you are absolutely right, there was little interest (not to mention sense) in making it compatible with other languages. (anymore than it already is)

What some people find hard is that some "other" people can wallow in smugness, thinking of how they won't need to learn another language.

My advice is not to concern oneself with wallowers of smugness.

 

[Ugg]

No, they are not proposing an International language. They are just proposing a way for foreigners to represent their dumb overcomplicated languages inside a computer, if they even know what a computer is.

Hmmm, overcomplicated is what English is. Lack of consistent pronunciation rules, tons of irregular verbs/pluralizations, slapdash approach to words borrowed from other languages, etc. It's probably the most inconsistent and bastardized language on the planet.

Programming out of necessity will always be in English, just as English is the common language of air traffic control and airplane pilots, or ports and ship captains. However, it's not necessary for every passenger on the plane to understand English so why should every internet user be forced to access the web via a language that is foreign to them?

It would be interesting to see how much traffic the BBC's foreign language sections receive. I doubt CNN is going to provide multiple translations of every single article on their site but it sure doesn't make sense to have the web restricted to a handful of languages as long as there is a demand for it. Let's face it, the reason it's such a bugger right now to get these languages on the web was due to xenophobia on the part of the original programmers.