Internet web language to go international – ICANN fast tracks Internationalized Domain Names (IDNs)
Web language to go international - video news report 30 Oct 09 with Al Jazeera’s Anand Naidoo reporting.
The regulatory body overseeing the internet has said it is ready to begin approving web site names written in non-Latin characters.
The move is being billed as the biggest change in the 40 year history of the internet.
Until now URLs have only been available in latin script. But the changes should pave the way for users to enter addresses in scripts such as Chinese, Arabic and Cyrillic.
Internationalized Domain Names (IDNs) video from the ICANN (Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers) official website – the Seoul Fellowship Participants ICANN Meeting, October 2009:
ICANN Bringing the Languages of the World to the Global Internet
Fast Track Process for Internationalized Domain Names Launches November 16
Seoul (30 October 2009): The first Internet addresses containing non-Latin characters from start to finish will soon be online thanks to today’s approval of the new Internationalized Domain Name Fast Track Process by the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers board.
“One World, One Internet, Everyone Connected” says ICANN
“The coming introduction of non-Latin characters represents the biggest technical change to the Internet since it was created four decades ago,” said ICANN chairman Peter Dengate Thrush. “Right now Internet address endings are limited to Latin characters – A to Z. But the Fast Track Process is the first step in bringing the 100,000 characters of the languages of the world online for domain names.”
ICANN’s Fast Track Process launches on 16 November 2009. It will allow nations and territories to apply for Internet extensions reflecting their name – and made up of characters from their national language. If the applications meet criteria that includes government and community support and a stability evaluation, the applicants will be approved to start accepting registrations. [...] Read more of this announcement from ICANN
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The decision to include Arabic and Mandarin indicates the growing trend against English as the international language.
A long-term solution must be found. Because Esperanto is a growing phenomenon, I think it should be investigated.
Please see http://www.lernu.net
I wouldn’t say “against English as the international language”. I think it is just a reflection the vast number of non-English speaking users in the world. Today’s powerful computers make it easy to input and display non-alphabetic languages.
ICANN should be ashamed, but I guess they’re too busy figuring out how else to make money after this goes through
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