Information Technology (IT) is undisputedly the catalyst
of the global village phenomenon. In the traditional villages
of the not-so-distant past, people talked the same language
or dialect. Today, the world (or the global village, as we
have come to think of it) shares no less than 6809 living
languages. At the same time the Internet, satellite communications
and cell phones have made their way to the remotest places
on the planet. It brings up the questions: what language
do we use now, and how do we use it?
In the Beginning it was the (English)
Word
It is an undisputed fact that English is the “mother
tongue” of IT and communications industries. The first
human-readable programming languages used English words,
and to this date, all computer-related terms are English.
IT scientists and practitioners all must read, speak and
write English with at least some degree of proficiency in
order to claim and exercise professional status. But this
is not to say that other languages are shut off from the
IT circuit.
Within the global village setting of IT, it is not uncommon
for practitioners of the same ethnic background to conduct
business among themselves in their mother tongue. A Canadian
manager in such a company could not help to remark that,
on the occasion of a status meeting for a coast-to-coast
project, the Montreal team conducted their call in French
while the Winnipeg team had theirs in Ukrainian. A researcher
in a German institute, working on an international team,
mentioned that while project discussions were conducted in
German, many IT terms were used in English to make sure there
is no confusion among team members. In South-Asian countries,
IT business is conducted exclusively in English as it is
seen as an asset in a global economy, although there are
efforts to increase the usage of local languages such as
Urdu.
WWW (Words, Words,
Words)
Some jurisdictions are more language-aware than others. French-speaking
IT communities on both sides of the Atlantic are notorious
for carefully coming up with a French equivalent for each
English IT term and conducting campaigns to ensure the
term catches ground. This is no easy task. Some languages
- and cultures - are better equipped than others to support
this effort. Other communities are simply not so adamant
or not so careful with their translations. If texts in
my own mother tongue, for example, are any indication,
translating IT terms can often have awkward, silly or downright
laughable results!
While terms related to the IT technology of 20 or 30 years
ago are now part of the common vocabulary (“file”, “database”, “record”, “field”, ”layout”),
one can still see the struggle that arrives while translating
terms such as “click”, “download” or “cookie.” It
is interesting to note that the same term has a different
fate in a different language. While some languages find and
assimilate a satisfactory equivalent for a word, others do
not and will just stick to the original English word.
Globalization and Localization
IT being a global phenomenon and the English language being
the official tongue of 104 states (as well as the “lingua
franca” of technology and business around the world),
one could easily assume that delivering IT content in other
languages is not a worth-while effort.
And yet, as a quick look to the website of any global IT
company will confirm, this effort is front and center in
the quest to attract local audiences from around the globe.
Indeed, globalization is delivered via localization. The
vast majority of IT products and services may be designed
and produced in North America, but to sell them to the world
they will be delivered locally, using the language and the
flavour of the targeted market. This is not done so much
for the sake of the local culture or language. It is part
of an astute marketing strategy.
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