The World Wide Web is often hailed as an equaliser of sorts, diminishing the lines of gender, race, culture, ethnicity and religion elements which we humans often use to identify and distinguish ourselves from social or cultural groups in the real world. For the past many years, English has been the dominant language on the web. It is one of the most widely understood and spoken languages in the world.
Wikipedia estimates the total number of native English speakers in the world to be around 322 million, whereas 1.2 billion people around the world speak English as a second language.
However, as the internet expanded its reach, multilingualism became one of the evident intrinsic characteristics of the web and non-English language content began to grow at fast pace, though the position of English is still dominant. The Internet World Statistics website indicates that there are currently 1.7 billion internet users in the world, of which 27.6 percent use English.
Language articulates our cultural and national identity. Others recognise this identity and either there is a synchronicity or there is not. Friends feel the same about things, have similar interests, and will often express themselves in a common language.
The recent decision by ICANN to allow non-latin-script web addresses or internationalised domain names for country-code top-level domains is being touted as a positive step with potential new opportunities and benefits for internet users of all languages around the world by allowing them to establish and use domains in their native languages and scripts.
However, given the importance of communication in a global medium like the internet and fostering links between people, it is not surprising to have doubts being expressed at the viability of this move.
Local language web content is one thing but when it comes to domain names internet users of all ages and linguistic backgrounds are accustomed to typing URLs in English. Sure, people can get used to the new style web but to see who it is going to benefit is a tough call.
IFRAH JAVAID
Lahore
