Saturday, December 6, 2008

Do Internet users want more languages?

Which is the one language that the people of India aspire to learn? Which is the one language that most Indians use while communicating on the Internet?

The answer is English. But you obviously knew that.

At the Internet Governance Forum being held in Hyderabad, Ajit Balakrishnan, CEO of Rediff.com, said that there is no evidence from the last ten years of the Internet business that users want Indian languages. Rediff has email in 11 languages, and 99% of the users prefer to use email in English, says a report.

Balakrishnan believes that a majority of Indians use the Internet for non- or little language skill associated activities like sending send messages, download music, view pictures or videos. These activities hardly require text input/usage.

Interesting comment from the Rediff CEO so is he trying to say that the investment he made to make those 11 languages available for its users was futile?

Not really; in fact, it could be called future-ready. In the coming years when Internet penetrates into large sections of rural India, that's when the regional languages will come handy, perhaps?

Source: Techtree

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