From AllAfrica.com... -ac
Local Languages Demand More Space on the Internet
A bid to have African languages join the likes of English and French in the Internet is being blocked by information experts from the West as lacking in commercial value.
A group of African linguistics and technology experts at a recent African Regional Preparatory Conference for the World Summit on Information Society (WSIS) in Accra, Ghana, say they have already developed special characters that can now help these languages be used on the World Wide Web.
They argue that the use of languages such as English has played a big role in the development of Western countries.
Another reason the Westerners are opposed to African languages being put on the Web, they say is their structure with some having characters and sounds in their alphabet that are not recognisable in the coding system of the Internet.
Therefore, the continent should continue expressing itself through appropriate languages in social and economic development.
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http://allafrica.com/stories/200502160942.html
-- ----------------------------------- Andy Carvin Program Director EDC Center for Media & Community acarvin @ edc . org http://www.digitaldivide.net http://www.tsunami-info.org Blog: http://www.andycarvin.com -----------------------------------
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