From...

by Matthew Yeomans

(IDG) -- If you can read this column, then count yourself as one of the majority in the Internet world, the English speakers. Until recently, it was assumed that the language of the Net was English. As the Internet becomes a more international medium, other nations are unsettled by the coronation of English as the Internet's de facto lingua franca.

The most vocal critic is France. Wouldn't you guess?

The nation has long been wary of English and more recently the Net –- and for good reason: According to a 1998 estimate, only 2 percent of all global Internet sites were in French. In 1997, the Association for the Defense of the French Language (English translation) even sued a Georgia Tech international campus in France to have its Internet site translated solely into French.

French concerns aside, however, is the Internet really the linguistic ogre it has been made out to be?

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As global markets grow and companies reach out to the vast non-English-speaking world, other dominant regional languages such as Chinese and Spanish are gaining footholds on the Internet. For example, Microsoft recently partnered with Telefonos de Mexico to push into Spanish-speaking markets in both Latin America and the U.S. The move indicates that the Net is a ways from establishing a virtual Esperanto.

While the giants of commerce and culture duke it out for Web hegemony, many smaller nations have embraced the Net as a vital source of rejuvenation for their native languages. No better example of this exists than in my homeland, Wales.

For centuries, Wales, a nation of only some 3 million people, has been struggling to define its identity as part of a United Kingdom dominated by England. Indeed, in many parts of the world, people incorrectly assume that Wales is part of England. Last May, however, both nations voted in favor of limited self-government devolved from direct rule by the British Labour government.

Suddenly, Wales has had to reinvent itself as a new nation, and to do that, it has set about re-embracing both its oldest tradition, its language, and the newest form of communication, the Internet.

Just 100 years ago, over half the population spoke Welsh, an ancient Celtic language, akin to Breton in Western France. By 1960, the figure had dropped to around 20 percent. "During this century," says Rhodri Williams, chairman of Bwrdd yr Iath Gymraeg (the Welsh Language Board), "the language had lost its place in so many domains. It had no place in business or commerce."

Today, after a 30 year struggle to resurrect it, Welsh is a vibrant tongue once again in Wales and is being actively promoted over the Internet through chat groups, online instruction and, this summer, the first broadcast of the National Eisteddfod, the oldest Welsh cultural festival. Welsh speakers around the world can even listen to the news in Welsh, courtesy of the BBC's multilanguage Web site.

With 250,000 speakers of the language in Wales and with twice that many living elsewhere in the U.K. and abroad, the Internet, says Williams, "is providing an opportunity to market the Welsh language to the diaspora."

The Welsh language revival online has also spurred economic growth.

Imaginet is the oldest and best established Web design company in Wales and produces bilingual sites for companies there. It is designing a Welsh cultural channel for the National Eisteddfod, eisteddfod.com, which, says Imaginet's Mandy James, will attract some 1 million users worldwide. Welsh culture and language, she says, "is raising the brand value of Wales in all sectors."

Imaginet is also revamping an existing Welsh e-commerce site, Wales Direct, which sells Welsh silver, souvenirs and crafts to a global tourist market. Though still in development, that site will undoubtedly be presented in both English and Welsh.

Offering Welsh may be a marketing advantage. "People like to see Welsh, even if they don't understand it," says Ken Howard, Wales Information Society project manager for the U.K. government Welsh Development Agency.

Even the most fervent supporters of the Welsh language see Welsh-to-Welsh e-commerce as being a long way off. But the Internet could well play an important role in linking a nation historically divided both linguistically and geographically.

In North Wales, where Welsh remains the first language for many people (as opposed to the heavily anglicized South) a Welsh language Web site is being designed for local farmers. Meanwhile, more and more tele-villages are sprouting up in the sparsely populated (if you don't count sheep) mid- and North Wales, finally giving people the chance to live and work out of Wales' few main cities, and bringing new life to once-moribund rural communities.

Helen Isaacs and Jeremy Kerrison, who run an online translation service, Telelingua, moved to an ISDN-wired house in Crickhowell, which is in mid-Wales, from Toulouse, France two years ago. "We moved on a Friday, drove to Wales, plugged in everything and started up again on the Monday," says Isaacs. "No one even knew we had moved."

As Wales seeks to establish itself in Europe, both its government and its businesses will be relying increasingly on the power of the Internet to be able to hit above their current weight belt. As Williams put it, "Wales is leading the way in the progress of language planning and marketing."

It might just prove the blueprint for other small nations' revivals.