Language barriers and translation challenges on the future Internet

¶ … computers and the Internet. Specifically it will discuss the problems coming in the future of computers and the Internet. There are many challenges and problems facing the future of computers and the Internet. One is the growing number of foreign-language-based Web sites and information online, and translating that information so that users have access to it. At a symposium about the future of the Internet, Eric Schmidt said that a majority of Web content will be in Chinese in five years' time (Rasmus, 2009). This will be a problem for many American sites that will want to capture that market, and it could be a problem for others around the world that do not speak Chinese but need access to the information.

Chinese and other languages dominating the Web is a problem because of the challenges it presents both the Chinese Web site operators and other countries, but it is also a problem because of the management of the information. Author Rasmus continues, "If I were CEO of Google I would be worried a bit about this because making sense of the world's information will require cross-links between languages, and very good translation" (Rasmus, 2009). The problem is not only with China, it is with many developing nations around the world.

For example, in Africa, computer use is at a minimum, and illiteracy is still a huge problem to overcome. Most African computer users use foreign languages in the computer use, because there are so few programs and sites available in their own languages. Another writer notes, "Reliance almost exclusively on English, French, and Portuguese for the transmission of information and new knowledge puts people who are not skilled in these languages, and arguably the societies of which they are a part, at a disadvantage" (Osborn, 2006, p. 87). This disadvantage will continue in underdeveloped nations until their users become more educated, but it puts the United States and other developed nations at a disadvantage, as well. With out "very good translation" available, information that could be damaging or even dangerous to the United States could be disseminated online, and we would not know it or monitor it, and this could create very serious situations.

How do we solve this problem? Some people might think that pouring money into education for underdeveloped countries is one solution, or developing more foreign-language translation resources here, that can easily adapt to translating foreign Web sites for individual, corporate and government use. Another solution is developing Information and Communications Networks (ICN) in these countries, to bring the technology to the people and train them how to use it, giving them many more opportunities for advancement, education, and eventual mastery of the computer and their futures. Another writer notes, "The United Nations and other organisations have embarked on several projects aimed at bringing ICT to citizens of developing countries" (Boakye-Akyeampong, 2009). This would benefit the communities, it could help keep people in their communities instead of fleeing to the cities for work, and it could develop more African computer users ready to develop more information in their own languages, making it available to others around the world. While that would add to the proliferation of language problems facing the Internet in the future, it would better lives.