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Thread ID: 88863	2008-04-12 03:05:00	Languages used in software/hardware	caffy (2665)	PC World Chat

Post ID	Timestamp	Content	User
658121	2008-04-12 03:05:00	Hi all, this is a question for my assignment. A group of us are researching on how technology has helped English to become 'the' global language. (such as the Internet, Satellite TV, online newspapers etc) I am wondering about software (and hardware too, if there's any examples out there?) such as Microsoft, Adobe etc. When they are released, are they only released in English first, then eventually other languages are released, such as French, Mandarin and so on? Or are several language versions released simultaneously? Thanks, caffy	caffy (2665)
658122	2008-04-12 05:08:00	Books. I'd look into them first. They were around a lot earlier than the Internet, Satellite and newspapers.	beeswax34 (63)
658123	2008-04-12 05:39:00	you're right, but that's not part of new technology :) several other groups are looking into that area - the historical, geographical etc reasons for English becoming a global language. My group is the only one that picked the new technology topic. Hence my question about software - it is only a small part of our whole work. But if no one can answer that, then I'll leave it out of our assignment...	caffy (2665)
658124	2008-04-12 06:08:00	I'm not a software developer but I think you'll find internationalisation (en.wikipedia.org) (or i18n) is well considered in the development of any modern software. There's no standard time-frame of when languages are released relative to initial release of the software (I'm sure this changes wildly from software market and software development companies, let alone individual products) but there's usually the foundations in place for language releases to be done at a later time. Although i18n has been around for a good 20+ years, thanks to the internet it's recently become a considerable element of not only software but larger websites also, especially those with multi-lingual user bases. Also, english is far from being THE language of the world, it currently coming second to chinese (mandarin?) afaik. Sure you see it daily and it can seem that way but only because you live in a "western society".	sal (67)
658125	2008-04-12 11:01:00	Also, english is far from being THE language of the world, it currently coming second to chinese (mandarin?) afaik. Sure you see it daily and it can seem that way but only because you live in a "western society". Sal: There is a big difference between a language being spoken by many millions and the most widely spoken. I'm certain you are right, Mandarin is spoken by more people, but mainly (of course) in China, whereas English speakers are found in almost every part of the world - more widely spoken. While I don't believe that I am as widely travelled as many, my short sojourn through Europe showed me that I was never far from someone who spoke English. I only have a small grasp of German (they laughed - nicely - at my attempts) but that was no barrier anywhere I went. Most European schools, I understand, teach English. Caffy: I'm not certain that that type of technology made English the global language. I think that you will find that it was well on the way to being widely spoken before satellites and the internet. Certainly technology has helped the spread since the advent of those technologies, but I think that an earlier invention may have had more to do with that spread. Radio - in particular shortwave radio - was decades ahead of the internet and satellites and would have been more instrumental with the spread - that and the English colonisation of many parts of the world. I have always been an avid shortwave listener and most countries, where English was not their mother tongue, had a shortwave service in English as well as their own tongue. That is still the case today. Overseas newspapers have been available for many years, in their traditional form, but not as immediate as reading them on the net. I would think that the reason that software is released in (American) English first is because that is the language where the software was written and because of the very large American market where it is to be (mainly) sold. I believe that most American software developers are quite arrogant and don't worry too much about the language that a small country (such as NZ) speaks. The money the Americans make out of NZ is tiny so I can't imagine them worrying too much if that country does not speak English. They will just market it somewhere that does. They, perhaps, need to be more interested in the French speakers of this world because that is also becoming more widely spoken. So I wonder how "new" the technology need be? Certainly so far as man's history is concerned, radio is "new," about 1895. Mankind has been around much longer than that!	Roscoe (6288)
658126	2008-04-12 15:17:00	you're right, but that's not part of new technology :) several other groups are looking into that area - the historical, geographical etc reasons for English becoming a global language. My group is the only one that picked the new technology topic. Hence my question about software - it is only a small part of our whole work. But if no one can answer that, then I'll leave it out of our assignment... Books were new technology at one time too.	beeswax34 (63)
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