NET SURFERS CARVE OUT A NICHE FOR FRENCH IN CYBERSPACE

In their unending war to prevent English-language domination, the French are focusing on the most global realm of all: cyberspace.

As Internet use spreads, French-speaking Internet promoters - from France's Ministry of Culture to cyberspace crusaders in French Canada - are working on the first-ever on-line French-searching software and a French vocabulary for Internet users.

The goal: to allow Francophone ''cybernautes'' to use the Net without submitting to English, which dominates the worldwide computer network.

Challenging the English-speaking world's cultural bulldozer is nothing new to the French. Since January, radio stations have been required by law to play a minimum of 40 percent French-language music. Similar laws require advertisements and product labels to be in French. And France spurred the European Union to limit non-EU - in other words, American - TV programs.

On the Internet - a global, often anarchic web of interconnected computers - most information and user jargon is in English.

Search programs like Yahoo (http://www.yahoo.com) or Webcrawler (http://www.webcrawler.com) enable users to find what they're looking for and are virtually all in English. They also are geared to find English-language information, though links to foreign sites are plentiful.

That puts non-English speakers at a disadvantage. They must understand English to use the ''search engines,'' even to find information in their own languages. And search engines often can't handle accented letters.

In February, a group of French researchers put the first all-French search engine, Lokace (http://www.iplus.fr/lokace), on the Net. Francophones use it to find information in thousands of French-language sites. The Montreal Computer Research Center in Quebec plans to launch another all-French ''moteur de recherche'' soon.

You've read 3 of 3 free articles. Subscribe to continue.
QR Code to NET SURFERS CARVE OUT A NICHE FOR FRENCH IN CYBERSPACE
Read this article in
https://www.csmonitor.com/1996/0313/13142.html
QR Code to Subscription page
Start your subscription today
https://www.csmonitor.com/subscribe
CSM logo

Why is Christian Science in our name?

Our name is about honesty. The Monitor is owned by The Christian Science Church, and we’ve always been transparent about that.

The Church publishes the Monitor because it sees good journalism as vital to progress in the world. Since 1908, we’ve aimed “to injure no man, but to bless all mankind,” as our founder, Mary Baker Eddy, put it.

Here, you’ll find award-winning journalism not driven by commercial influences – a news organization that takes seriously its mission to uplift the world by seeking solutions and finding reasons for credible hope.

Explore values journalism About us