Text Messages May Save Some Fading Languages
Can a language stay relevant if it isn't used to send text messages on a cellphone?
Language advocates worry that the answer is no, and they are pushing to make more written languages available on cellphones.
Texting is the cheapest and most popular mode of cellphone communication in most of the world, and last year text messages topped voice calls even in the U.S. The world's three billion cellphones far surpass the Internet as a universal communications medium, and they are vital to business development in less-developed economies.
But companies that develop predictive text say they have created cellphone software for fewer than 80 of the world's 6,912 languages cataloged by SIL International, a Dallas organization that works to preserve languages.
One key to using the languages is the availability of a technology called predictive text, which reduces the number of key taps necessary to create a word when using a limited keypad. Market research shows that text messaging soars after predictive text becomes available.
'The idea of having your cultural identity represented in this technology is increasingly important,' says Laura Welcher, director of the Rosetta Project of San Francisco's Long Now Foundation. Ms. Welcher, who says linguists fear half the world's languages will disappear in the near future, thinks at least 200 languages have enough speakers to justify development of cellphone text systems. 'Technology empowers the poorest people,' she adds.
Putting text on cellphones involves more than just printing letters on the number keys. Texting is cumbersome on a 12-key handset, requiring multiple taps on keys to select some letters. It is even harder in languages with more than the 26 letters of English. In Hindi, a language with 11 vowels and 34 consonants that is spoken by 40% of the Indian population, texting 'Namaste,' which means 'hello,' can take 21 key presses.
The solution for most users is predictive text. A phone with predictive text guesses what word a person is trying to type on the 12-key cellphone keypad, requiring far fewer keystrokes.
Typing 'Namaste' with predictive text takes just six key presses. Nuance Corp. of Burlington, Mass., which dominates the predictive-text market, says that in 2006 cellphone users in India with predictive text in their handsets averaged 70 messages a week; those without it averaged 18.
The majority of users activate predictive text capability on their phones because, according to calculations by Nuance unit Tegic Corp., it is 30% faster than using the traditional method of hitting the '2' key once for 'a', twice for 'b' or three times for 'c' with a Roman alphabet.
Michael Cahill, linguistics coordinator for SIL International, says, 'There are cases where texting is helping to preserve languages' by encouraging young people to write in their native tongue.
Native-language boosters in Ireland and Britain have successfully pushed for development of Gaelic and Welsh languages on cellphones for texting so they remain relevant for young people.
Breandan Mac Craith, marketing director for Dublin-based Foras na Gaeilge, which promotes Gaelic, says, 'It's extremely important that language isn't something that's only in books.' In 2006, Foras began working to develop texting software for the Irish language with market leader Tegic. He says 'texting way surpasses voice calls,' but 'trying to find the accent marks that we put on some of our vowels is very time consuming. So texts got written in English.'
Once the software was available, Foras started pushing carriers and handset makers to install it on their phones. Last year, Samsung Corp., trying to steal a march on market leader Nokia Corp., added an Irish-language handset to its line. 'They're fabulous tools for us,' says Mr. Mac Craith. 'It facilitates the Irish language as a communications tool for every day -- not just in the classroom.'
In other parts of the world, text capability on cellphones can be vital to economic development and helping people who don't speak or read English buy and sell goods. Indian carriers offer at least 12 of that nation's 22 official languages, and Tegic says it is working to add Kashmeri to the list.
Says Christy Wyatt, vice president of software at cellphone maker Motorola Corp.: 'Predictive text is one of the technologies that has opened up the handset.' Motorola writes its own software for predictive text, but most other handset makers buy Tegic's T9 software from Nuance, with a growing number using EziText from Zi Corp., a Calgary, Alberta, firm with a big market in China.
Predictive text in Western languages has been available for more than a decade, and today it is on virtually every 12-key cellphone, although carriers don't always activate it.
Michael Wehrs, Nuance's vice president of industry affairs, says allowing texting in native languages makes it easier for people who don't speak English to conduct business. 'The population needs to be able to use the device,' he says. 'To require them to use English is futile.'
如果一種語(yǔ)言不被用來(lái)發(fā)送手機(jī)短信，它還能保留下來(lái)嗎？
回答恐怕是否定的，而這正是提倡語(yǔ)言發(fā)展人士的擔(dān)心，因此他們正在努力讓更多的書(shū)面語(yǔ)言應(yīng)用在手機(jī)上。
在世界大多數(shù)地方，短信是便宜、也是受歡迎的手機(jī)通信方式。去年，即便是在美國(guó)，短信發(fā)送的數(shù)量也超過(guò)了直接通話。目前，全球手機(jī)數(shù)量已經(jīng)高達(dá)30億部，遠(yuǎn)遠(yuǎn)超過(guò)互聯(lián)網(wǎng)而成為普遍的通信工具，而它們對(duì)欠發(fā)達(dá)經(jīng)濟(jì)體的商業(yè)發(fā)展更是至關(guān)重要。
不過(guò)，開(kāi)發(fā)智慧文本輸入法(predictive text)的企業(yè)表示，它們開(kāi)發(fā)出來(lái)的手機(jī)軟體只能支援SIL International收錄的70余種語(yǔ)言，而這家旨在保護(hù)世界上各種語(yǔ)言、總部位于達(dá)拉斯的組織所收錄的語(yǔ)言共有6,912種。
使用這些語(yǔ)言的一個(gè)關(guān)鍵，在于一種被稱為智慧文本輸入(predictive text)的技術(shù)。有了這種技術(shù)，用戶在使用有限空間的鍵盤(pán)來(lái)創(chuàng)建一個(gè)單詞時(shí)，可以減少所需的按鍵次數(shù)。市場(chǎng)研究顯示，在智慧文本輸入法出現(xiàn)后，短信發(fā)送量大幅增加。
三藩市Long Now Foundation羅塞塔專案(Rosetta Project)主任蘿拉韋爾奇(Laura Welcher)表示，“讓你的文化特征在手機(jī)智能文本輸入技術(shù)中體現(xiàn)出來(lái)，這樣做變得越來(lái)越重要?！表f爾奇說(shuō)，語(yǔ)言學(xué)家擔(dān)心，在不遠(yuǎn)的將來(lái)，全世界有一半的語(yǔ)言將會(huì)消失。她認(rèn)為，至少有200種語(yǔ)言擁有足夠的受眾，值得我們?yōu)橹畬ｉT(mén)開(kāi)發(fā)手機(jī)文本系統(tǒng)。她補(bǔ)充說(shuō)，“科技賦予貧窮的人群以力量?！?BR> 在手機(jī)上輸入文本不只是簡(jiǎn)單地使用數(shù)位鍵列印出字母。文本輸入在只有12個(gè)按鍵的手機(jī)上是一件很麻煩的事情，需要用戶多次按鍵才能輸入某些字母。對(duì)于那些不象英語(yǔ)那樣只有26個(gè)字母的語(yǔ)言，輸入就更麻煩了。比如說(shuō)，印地語(yǔ)有11個(gè)母音和34個(gè)輔音，而40%的印度人都說(shuō)印地語(yǔ)。如果他們要輸入'Namaste'即“你好”這個(gè)詞，可能需要按鍵21次之多。
對(duì)于大多數(shù)用戶來(lái)說(shuō)，解決方法就是智慧文本。配置智慧文本輸入法的手機(jī)可以猜測(cè)用戶試圖鍵入的單詞，這樣他們所需的按鍵次數(shù)就要少得多。
如果使用智慧文本輸入法，輸入'Namaste'這個(gè)詞，只需按鍵6次。麻薩諸塞州柏林頓（Burlington）的Nuance Corp.是智慧文本市場(chǎng)的主要企業(yè)。該公司表示，2006年，配置智慧文本輸入法的印度手機(jī)用戶平均每周發(fā)送短信70條, 而那些沒(méi)有配置此輸入法的手機(jī)用戶平均每周只發(fā)送18條。
根據(jù)Nuance子公司Tegic Corp.的測(cè)算，絕大多數(shù)手機(jī)用戶都會(huì)啟動(dòng)其手機(jī)上的智慧文本輸入功能，因?yàn)橄啾葌鹘y(tǒng)方法，這樣輸入速度可以提高30%。如果采用傳統(tǒng)方法，用戶需要按鍵'2'選擇'a'，兩次選擇'b'，或三次選擇'c'。
SIL International的語(yǔ)言學(xué)協(xié)調(diào)員邁克爾卡希爾(Michael Cahill)表示，在某些情況下，鼓勵(lì)年輕人使用他們的母語(yǔ)書(shū)寫(xiě)、發(fā)送短信實(shí)際上是在保護(hù)他們的語(yǔ)言。
愛(ài)爾蘭和英國(guó)的本地語(yǔ)言宣導(dǎo)者已經(jīng)成功推動(dòng)開(kāi)發(fā)在手機(jī)上使用蓋爾語(yǔ)(Gaelic)和威爾士語(yǔ)(Welsh)的文本輸入法，以便年輕人可以使用這兩門(mén)語(yǔ)言發(fā)送手機(jī)短信，避免這兩種語(yǔ)言與年輕人脫節(jié)。
總部設(shè)在都柏林、致力于推廣蓋爾語(yǔ)的Foras na Gaeilge的市場(chǎng)行銷總監(jiān)Breandan Mac Craith表示，語(yǔ)言不僅是只能在書(shū)本上出現(xiàn)的東西，這一點(diǎn)極為重要。早在2006年，F(xiàn)oras即開(kāi)始與Tegic合作開(kāi)發(fā)愛(ài)爾蘭語(yǔ)的文本輸入軟體。他說(shuō)，“短信數(shù)量遠(yuǎn)遠(yuǎn)超過(guò)了直接通話，”但是“要找到我們某些母音上的重音符，非常費(fèi)時(shí)。因此文本都是以英語(yǔ)輸入的?！?BR> 愛(ài)爾蘭語(yǔ)文本輸入軟體一經(jīng)推出，F(xiàn)oras便開(kāi)始敦促手機(jī)運(yùn)營(yíng)商和制造商將其安裝在它們的手機(jī)上。去年，三星公司(Samsung Corp.)就增加了愛(ài)爾蘭語(yǔ)的手機(jī)產(chǎn)品，以圖挑戰(zhàn)市場(chǎng)領(lǐng)頭羊諾基亞(Nokia Corp.)。Mac Craith先生說(shuō)，“這對(duì)我們來(lái)說(shuō)是極好的工具。它將促進(jìn)愛(ài)爾蘭語(yǔ)成為日常溝通工具──而不只是課堂上的教材?！?BR> 在世界其他地方，手機(jī)文本輸入功能對(duì)于經(jīng)濟(jì)發(fā)展以及幫助那些不懂英語(yǔ)的人們買賣商品都是至關(guān)重要的。印度手機(jī)運(yùn)營(yíng)商至少會(huì)配置該國(guó)22種官方語(yǔ)言中12種語(yǔ)言的文本輸入功能。Tegic表示，該公司目前正在努力將喀什米爾語(yǔ)(Kashmeri)也增加進(jìn)來(lái)。
手機(jī)制造商摩托羅拉公司(Motorola Inc.)的軟體部副總裁克利斯蒂懷亞特(Christy Wyatt)表示，智慧文本輸入法是促進(jìn)手機(jī)開(kāi)發(fā)的主要技術(shù)之一。摩托羅拉使用自行開(kāi)發(fā)的智慧文本輸入軟體，但是大多數(shù)其他手機(jī)制造商都是選擇從Nuance購(gòu)買Tegic開(kāi)發(fā)的T9軟體，而越來(lái)越多的企業(yè)開(kāi)始使用Zi Corp的EziText軟體。總部位于加拿大阿爾伯達(dá)省卡爾加里的Zi Corp在中國(guó)擁有很大的市場(chǎng)份額。
西方語(yǔ)言的智慧文本輸入法已有10多年的歷史。今天，它已被運(yùn)用在幾乎所有的12鍵手機(jī)上，只是運(yùn)營(yíng)商并不總是啟動(dòng)它。
Nuance負(fù)責(zé)行業(yè)事務(wù)的副總裁邁克爾o韋思(Michael Wehrs)表示，母語(yǔ)文本輸入可使那些不會(huì)英語(yǔ)的人士更易于開(kāi)展商務(wù)。他說(shuō)，“這群人必須能夠使用手機(jī)。硬要他們使用英語(yǔ)純屬徒勞?！?
Can a language stay relevant if it isn't used to send text messages on a cellphone?
Language advocates worry that the answer is no, and they are pushing to make more written languages available on cellphones.
Texting is the cheapest and most popular mode of cellphone communication in most of the world, and last year text messages topped voice calls even in the U.S. The world's three billion cellphones far surpass the Internet as a universal communications medium, and they are vital to business development in less-developed economies.
But companies that develop predictive text say they have created cellphone software for fewer than 80 of the world's 6,912 languages cataloged by SIL International, a Dallas organization that works to preserve languages.
One key to using the languages is the availability of a technology called predictive text, which reduces the number of key taps necessary to create a word when using a limited keypad. Market research shows that text messaging soars after predictive text becomes available.
'The idea of having your cultural identity represented in this technology is increasingly important,' says Laura Welcher, director of the Rosetta Project of San Francisco's Long Now Foundation. Ms. Welcher, who says linguists fear half the world's languages will disappear in the near future, thinks at least 200 languages have enough speakers to justify development of cellphone text systems. 'Technology empowers the poorest people,' she adds.
Putting text on cellphones involves more than just printing letters on the number keys. Texting is cumbersome on a 12-key handset, requiring multiple taps on keys to select some letters. It is even harder in languages with more than the 26 letters of English. In Hindi, a language with 11 vowels and 34 consonants that is spoken by 40% of the Indian population, texting 'Namaste,' which means 'hello,' can take 21 key presses.
The solution for most users is predictive text. A phone with predictive text guesses what word a person is trying to type on the 12-key cellphone keypad, requiring far fewer keystrokes.
Typing 'Namaste' with predictive text takes just six key presses. Nuance Corp. of Burlington, Mass., which dominates the predictive-text market, says that in 2006 cellphone users in India with predictive text in their handsets averaged 70 messages a week; those without it averaged 18.
The majority of users activate predictive text capability on their phones because, according to calculations by Nuance unit Tegic Corp., it is 30% faster than using the traditional method of hitting the '2' key once for 'a', twice for 'b' or three times for 'c' with a Roman alphabet.
Michael Cahill, linguistics coordinator for SIL International, says, 'There are cases where texting is helping to preserve languages' by encouraging young people to write in their native tongue.
Native-language boosters in Ireland and Britain have successfully pushed for development of Gaelic and Welsh languages on cellphones for texting so they remain relevant for young people.
Breandan Mac Craith, marketing director for Dublin-based Foras na Gaeilge, which promotes Gaelic, says, 'It's extremely important that language isn't something that's only in books.' In 2006, Foras began working to develop texting software for the Irish language with market leader Tegic. He says 'texting way surpasses voice calls,' but 'trying to find the accent marks that we put on some of our vowels is very time consuming. So texts got written in English.'
Once the software was available, Foras started pushing carriers and handset makers to install it on their phones. Last year, Samsung Corp., trying to steal a march on market leader Nokia Corp., added an Irish-language handset to its line. 'They're fabulous tools for us,' says Mr. Mac Craith. 'It facilitates the Irish language as a communications tool for every day -- not just in the classroom.'
In other parts of the world, text capability on cellphones can be vital to economic development and helping people who don't speak or read English buy and sell goods. Indian carriers offer at least 12 of that nation's 22 official languages, and Tegic says it is working to add Kashmeri to the list.
Says Christy Wyatt, vice president of software at cellphone maker Motorola Corp.: 'Predictive text is one of the technologies that has opened up the handset.' Motorola writes its own software for predictive text, but most other handset makers buy Tegic's T9 software from Nuance, with a growing number using EziText from Zi Corp., a Calgary, Alberta, firm with a big market in China.
Predictive text in Western languages has been available for more than a decade, and today it is on virtually every 12-key cellphone, although carriers don't always activate it.
Michael Wehrs, Nuance's vice president of industry affairs, says allowing texting in native languages makes it easier for people who don't speak English to conduct business. 'The population needs to be able to use the device,' he says. 'To require them to use English is futile.'
如果一種語(yǔ)言不被用來(lái)發(fā)送手機(jī)短信，它還能保留下來(lái)嗎？
回答恐怕是否定的，而這正是提倡語(yǔ)言發(fā)展人士的擔(dān)心，因此他們正在努力讓更多的書(shū)面語(yǔ)言應(yīng)用在手機(jī)上。
在世界大多數(shù)地方，短信是便宜、也是受歡迎的手機(jī)通信方式。去年，即便是在美國(guó)，短信發(fā)送的數(shù)量也超過(guò)了直接通話。目前，全球手機(jī)數(shù)量已經(jīng)高達(dá)30億部，遠(yuǎn)遠(yuǎn)超過(guò)互聯(lián)網(wǎng)而成為普遍的通信工具，而它們對(duì)欠發(fā)達(dá)經(jīng)濟(jì)體的商業(yè)發(fā)展更是至關(guān)重要。
不過(guò)，開(kāi)發(fā)智慧文本輸入法(predictive text)的企業(yè)表示，它們開(kāi)發(fā)出來(lái)的手機(jī)軟體只能支援SIL International收錄的70余種語(yǔ)言，而這家旨在保護(hù)世界上各種語(yǔ)言、總部位于達(dá)拉斯的組織所收錄的語(yǔ)言共有6,912種。
使用這些語(yǔ)言的一個(gè)關(guān)鍵，在于一種被稱為智慧文本輸入(predictive text)的技術(shù)。有了這種技術(shù)，用戶在使用有限空間的鍵盤(pán)來(lái)創(chuàng)建一個(gè)單詞時(shí)，可以減少所需的按鍵次數(shù)。市場(chǎng)研究顯示，在智慧文本輸入法出現(xiàn)后，短信發(fā)送量大幅增加。
三藩市Long Now Foundation羅塞塔專案(Rosetta Project)主任蘿拉韋爾奇(Laura Welcher)表示，“讓你的文化特征在手機(jī)智能文本輸入技術(shù)中體現(xiàn)出來(lái)，這樣做變得越來(lái)越重要?！表f爾奇說(shuō)，語(yǔ)言學(xué)家擔(dān)心，在不遠(yuǎn)的將來(lái)，全世界有一半的語(yǔ)言將會(huì)消失。她認(rèn)為，至少有200種語(yǔ)言擁有足夠的受眾，值得我們?yōu)橹畬ｉT(mén)開(kāi)發(fā)手機(jī)文本系統(tǒng)。她補(bǔ)充說(shuō)，“科技賦予貧窮的人群以力量?！?BR> 在手機(jī)上輸入文本不只是簡(jiǎn)單地使用數(shù)位鍵列印出字母。文本輸入在只有12個(gè)按鍵的手機(jī)上是一件很麻煩的事情，需要用戶多次按鍵才能輸入某些字母。對(duì)于那些不象英語(yǔ)那樣只有26個(gè)字母的語(yǔ)言，輸入就更麻煩了。比如說(shuō)，印地語(yǔ)有11個(gè)母音和34個(gè)輔音，而40%的印度人都說(shuō)印地語(yǔ)。如果他們要輸入'Namaste'即“你好”這個(gè)詞，可能需要按鍵21次之多。
對(duì)于大多數(shù)用戶來(lái)說(shuō)，解決方法就是智慧文本。配置智慧文本輸入法的手機(jī)可以猜測(cè)用戶試圖鍵入的單詞，這樣他們所需的按鍵次數(shù)就要少得多。
如果使用智慧文本輸入法，輸入'Namaste'這個(gè)詞，只需按鍵6次。麻薩諸塞州柏林頓（Burlington）的Nuance Corp.是智慧文本市場(chǎng)的主要企業(yè)。該公司表示，2006年，配置智慧文本輸入法的印度手機(jī)用戶平均每周發(fā)送短信70條, 而那些沒(méi)有配置此輸入法的手機(jī)用戶平均每周只發(fā)送18條。
根據(jù)Nuance子公司Tegic Corp.的測(cè)算，絕大多數(shù)手機(jī)用戶都會(huì)啟動(dòng)其手機(jī)上的智慧文本輸入功能，因?yàn)橄啾葌鹘y(tǒng)方法，這樣輸入速度可以提高30%。如果采用傳統(tǒng)方法，用戶需要按鍵'2'選擇'a'，兩次選擇'b'，或三次選擇'c'。
SIL International的語(yǔ)言學(xué)協(xié)調(diào)員邁克爾卡希爾(Michael Cahill)表示，在某些情況下，鼓勵(lì)年輕人使用他們的母語(yǔ)書(shū)寫(xiě)、發(fā)送短信實(shí)際上是在保護(hù)他們的語(yǔ)言。
愛(ài)爾蘭和英國(guó)的本地語(yǔ)言宣導(dǎo)者已經(jīng)成功推動(dòng)開(kāi)發(fā)在手機(jī)上使用蓋爾語(yǔ)(Gaelic)和威爾士語(yǔ)(Welsh)的文本輸入法，以便年輕人可以使用這兩門(mén)語(yǔ)言發(fā)送手機(jī)短信，避免這兩種語(yǔ)言與年輕人脫節(jié)。
總部設(shè)在都柏林、致力于推廣蓋爾語(yǔ)的Foras na Gaeilge的市場(chǎng)行銷總監(jiān)Breandan Mac Craith表示，語(yǔ)言不僅是只能在書(shū)本上出現(xiàn)的東西，這一點(diǎn)極為重要。早在2006年，F(xiàn)oras即開(kāi)始與Tegic合作開(kāi)發(fā)愛(ài)爾蘭語(yǔ)的文本輸入軟體。他說(shuō)，“短信數(shù)量遠(yuǎn)遠(yuǎn)超過(guò)了直接通話，”但是“要找到我們某些母音上的重音符，非常費(fèi)時(shí)。因此文本都是以英語(yǔ)輸入的?！?BR> 愛(ài)爾蘭語(yǔ)文本輸入軟體一經(jīng)推出，F(xiàn)oras便開(kāi)始敦促手機(jī)運(yùn)營(yíng)商和制造商將其安裝在它們的手機(jī)上。去年，三星公司(Samsung Corp.)就增加了愛(ài)爾蘭語(yǔ)的手機(jī)產(chǎn)品，以圖挑戰(zhàn)市場(chǎng)領(lǐng)頭羊諾基亞(Nokia Corp.)。Mac Craith先生說(shuō)，“這對(duì)我們來(lái)說(shuō)是極好的工具。它將促進(jìn)愛(ài)爾蘭語(yǔ)成為日常溝通工具──而不只是課堂上的教材?！?BR> 在世界其他地方，手機(jī)文本輸入功能對(duì)于經(jīng)濟(jì)發(fā)展以及幫助那些不懂英語(yǔ)的人們買賣商品都是至關(guān)重要的。印度手機(jī)運(yùn)營(yíng)商至少會(huì)配置該國(guó)22種官方語(yǔ)言中12種語(yǔ)言的文本輸入功能。Tegic表示，該公司目前正在努力將喀什米爾語(yǔ)(Kashmeri)也增加進(jìn)來(lái)。
手機(jī)制造商摩托羅拉公司(Motorola Inc.)的軟體部副總裁克利斯蒂懷亞特(Christy Wyatt)表示，智慧文本輸入法是促進(jìn)手機(jī)開(kāi)發(fā)的主要技術(shù)之一。摩托羅拉使用自行開(kāi)發(fā)的智慧文本輸入軟體，但是大多數(shù)其他手機(jī)制造商都是選擇從Nuance購(gòu)買Tegic開(kāi)發(fā)的T9軟體，而越來(lái)越多的企業(yè)開(kāi)始使用Zi Corp的EziText軟體。總部位于加拿大阿爾伯達(dá)省卡爾加里的Zi Corp在中國(guó)擁有很大的市場(chǎng)份額。
西方語(yǔ)言的智慧文本輸入法已有10多年的歷史。今天，它已被運(yùn)用在幾乎所有的12鍵手機(jī)上，只是運(yùn)營(yíng)商并不總是啟動(dòng)它。
Nuance負(fù)責(zé)行業(yè)事務(wù)的副總裁邁克爾o韋思(Michael Wehrs)表示，母語(yǔ)文本輸入可使那些不會(huì)英語(yǔ)的人士更易于開(kāi)展商務(wù)。他說(shuō)，“這群人必須能夠使用手機(jī)。硬要他們使用英語(yǔ)純屬徒勞?！?