Annamma Samuel is 76 and a grandmother in Kerala. Till January 2008, she had never been on Facebook or any social networking site. Then Facebook launched its multilingual user interface and a newly networked Annamma expresses the view that it is “a godsend for senior citizens who wish to communicate in their local language.”

She adds that she finds it easy to “relate” to Facebook’s Malayalam version and enjoys connecting with ex-colleagues in Dubai. “Now I know why my grandchildren are hooked.”  Annamma is not alone. She is one of many thousands of older people increasingly using networking sites in their local language. Experts say it’s been an exceedingly smart move for sites such as Facebook, Orkut or Twitter to go regional.

A recent study by market research firm Mintel showed that in a first, last year, at least one lakh senior citizens logged on to social networking sites. The women outnumbered men. It is an idea that works, as many have found. Online encyclopedia Wikipedia is available in more than 20 Indian languages; Facebook in 12 languages and 80 non-English variations; Orkut in eight regional languages and user interface in 43 languages.
The Indian languages are available with an option called Transliteration tool, which has users typing in English and the content appearing in the chosen local languages. It is all centred on phonetics and Google says thousands of Indian users have generously contributed to the translation process.

Rahul Kulkarni, product manager for Google India says one of the main reasons to launch the Transliteration tool was the lack of local language keyboards in India. “We have got a good response. It also helps people engage with each other…and communities in their local languages.” Bilingualism is booming with some bloggers putting out different language versions of their blogs and Facebook and Twitter offering a section dedicated to multilingual users.

Interestingly, languages originally catered to by websites may not necessarily flourish. For instance, Punjabi was the first Indian language on Wikipedia, as far back as June 2002. But it’s fairly inactive today and there is little real growth in terms of articles. However, the Tamil and Malayalam Wikipedias are active and have the highest number of active edits. Meanwhile, Facebook reveals great participation in languages other than English. Meenal Balar, Facebook’s international growth manager in California, says that millions across the globe use the site in non-English languages. “We believe Facebook should be accessible to everyone, and recognize that language plays a significant role in people’s ability to communicate.” She says it’s especially popular in French. When Facebook was put up for translation in French, French-speaking users translated it within 24 hours! “It’s incredible to see how it’s personal to each individual,” adds Balar. Raji Daniel, a lecturer in Chennai, couldn’t agree more. For him, Facebook is a brilliant way to keep in touch with Spanish and French friends. “Twitter too is great for language learning. Just follow interesting people who tweet in your target language,” he says. “Besides tweeting, they also post links to French sites, blogs and books that I am interested in,” he explains.

Tinu Cherian Abraham, an administrator with English Wikipedia, agrees that it’s a boon to have information readily accessible to everyone in many local languages. He tweets with close friends in Malayalam. But Abraham says more needs to be done to attract more people to these sites. “Unlike China and Korea, where there are local language keyboards, in India, people have no clue how to type on English keyboards to access the language they want. This could put off many users who aren’t tech-savvy.”

Crucially too, ordinary netizens are supposed to be unsure about the process of enabling special tools and input systems for translation. Perhaps multilingual websites could help clear the mists of incomprehension.

Copyrights : The Times of India : “Have website. Talk in many tongues” by Sherry M Jacob-Phillips - appeared in The Times of India newspaper on 16 Jan 2011

Disclaimer:  This news article features the site owner and has been reproduced here for archival purposes only. All copyrights are duly acknowledged.