Domain extensions based on native languages.
It is all far fetched and conjecture, of course.
Here is an interesting and controversial look ahead:
Tom,
I appreciate the foresightedness of this article.
However, I do not see this as a logical solution. Looking into our crystal balls, a little foggy at the moment, is every national language wanting itâs own usage, as in an IDN type format.
There is a massive push to IDN coming from China as well as India, the two most populated nations on the globe. For too long, these nations and their languages and native scripts have been in servitude to the English speaking internet. To me, either with your solution or my vision (ouch...my pointy aluminum foil hat is on too tight), I see a very fractured internet on the very near horizon. Global City TLDâs? Or Global Language TLDâs (glTLD).
Spain (.es) will start allowing registration of accented characters in October 2007. China is mandating all government and official offices use the .cn. China is encouraging its citizens to not only use the .cn, but also simplified Chinese characters. As is the recurrent theme in Chinese politics and living, the âencouragementâ is often followed by an official decree. Personally, I look for this shortly after the 2008 Summer Olympics in Beijing to not disrupt the system already in place.
As mentioned, India is right behind Chinaâs lead wanting itâs .in domain to be used in addition to the native languages and scripts. Again, one can not ignor that these are the two most populated nations on earth. More importantly, we are talking languages that extend far beyond their borders.
1. Chinese (Mandarin) 1,075,000,000
2. English 514,000,000
3. Hindustani1 496,000,000
4. Spanish 425,000,000
5. Russian 275,000,000
6. Arabic 256,000,000
7. Bengali 215,000,000
8. Portuguese 194,000,000
9. Malay-Indonesian 176,000,000
10. French 129,000,000
India is slated to overtake China in population by 2015. I also do not believe that these numbers are a true reflection of true populations.
All of this talk of gcTLD or glTLD is pure conjecture at this point. But there seems to already be a sense of divide in nationalism and languages in the real world arena let alone the virtual world of the internet. There is a sense of lines being drawn in the sand to seperate not only classes and sects of populations, but languages also.
We take it for granted that English is considered the international business language. But with many countryâs distaste and distrust of the western and english speakers (and vice versa) there is not only an anti-english sentiment in many parts of the world, but also a cry of being subjected to not having a choice when it comes to the internet usage and the english language as the standard. In other words, there are no other words.
In an August 20th article on MSNBC entitled âWhy are 175 million Chinese studying English?â (
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/20216718/site/newsweek) one would think that english will remain âthe thingâ. But keep in mind that, as the article pointed out, this is primarily as a result of boosting oneâs advancement (and pay) for the Chinese business sector and booming economy. As a massive global market has emerged, so too has the need to communicate on a B2B level, not necessarily a P2P level. Meanwhile, the exact figures escape me, but I believe there are only 14,000 children in the US studying Chinese.
What will the future of the internet look like? With the continued evolving browsers autodecting URLâs and translation, I would not at all be surprised that instead of the more than current 260 ccTLDâs and primary TLDâs and God only knows the second level number, we see a streamlined...a very thin streamlined TLDâs based on language. Perhaps a total of 12-15 glTLDâs. Thatâs it. That is the internet in 5-10 years.
What are we looking at? Some obvious guesses would be:
1. Chinese
.chi
2. English
.eng
3. Hindustani
.hind
4. Spanish
.esp
5. Russian
.rus
6. Arabic
.ara
7. Bengali
.beng
8. Portuguese
.port
9. Malay-Indonesian
.mala
10. French
.fra
And weâll probably need to add (or keep) .jp, .kor, .de, .ital and a few more. (Note: naturally I am an english speaker/writer and I am taking liberties at defining their TLDâs based on the english variant of the words presented.)
Each native language will have itâs native language internet complete with native scriptand characters. Every computer in the world will be able to auto-detect the languages and auto-translate for viewing. No one will have to worry about changing their keyboard formatting thanks to the above. Whatever you read, write, and type you will continue to do so in your own language. But in Tokyo it will appear in Japanese, French in Paris, Chinese in Macau, German in Bonn.
Who knows.
One thing is for certain. The internet will change. It will evolve to meet the needs of the masses and the global changes affecting it. The people will not change to meet the needs of the internet. The internet will change to meet the needs of the people.
It will be quite difficult trying to convince the Chinese population and the government that, no...you can not have your own internet.
Try convincing India that, hey...itâs great that you guys have such a wired nation and so many high tech jobs are here but gee we really wish you and your 1 billion countrymen would just not muck things up with your own language usage.
See you in about 5 years.
