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DOT.COM: VERNACULAR PORTALS Goodbye Porn Hello Vern There may be life beyond English on the www. At least there are sound reasons for there to be... By Aparna Ramalingam Mr V. C. Moni Respected Moniji,
Yesterday, sir, some paper carry item with interview of Raj Raman of Sify. He say, ''Growth may be slow in vernacular Internet, but its future is bright.'' Forgive language, but it paper's own. Myself no change it. Sify have portals in Tamil, Kannada, telugu, Malayalam, Bengali, Gujarati, and Hindi. And Raman say 30 per cent of company's registered users go for vernacular section. Rediff have in Hindi, Tamil, Telugu, and Gujarati. Rediff even have e-mail in 11 languages Moniji. And also instant messager RediffBol in 5 languages: Hindi, Telugu, Kannada, Malayalam and Tamil. Same article also quote Vinay Chajlani, CEO of Webdunia: ''Languages are the biggest barrier to the use of internet, and the empowerment of Indians.'' Chajhlani, now he know what he say. Webdunia run four language portals, webdunia (Hindi), webulagam (Tamil), webprapancham (Telugu) and weblokam (Malayalam). He also provide vernacular content to famous companies like Sify, Indya, Lycos, Yahoo. And I hear somewhere that big companies are using technology created by vernacular sites to wire up dealerships.
Myself aware, sir, that peetopee is what you people worry about. But, tell me, Moniji, which site make money these days. But advertising be picking up in these sites. Hope you know, UTVI's two sites Tamizha Tamizha (Tamil) and Kemchho (Gujarati) already sign deal with webshastra, India-representative of Double Click, for minimum guarantee of advertising. Like I already write, they also earn money from syndication. And from selling technical stuff they create to other people. Like English portals they too sell books and CDs. Sites in southie languages and Bengali probably succeed sooner: people there don't like Hindi despite it being Rashtriya Bhasha. They also claim better English-knowledge, but now see them running to mother-tongue sites. We all need to sell concept of net in other languages Moniji, not make fun of it. See what Chajjlani is doing. He is UP Government's partner for official website of Kumbh-mela. I went there sir, to bathe in holy trinity of rivers in this auspicious month. I saw 20 kiosks of Webdunia for online services there. I meet with Chhajlani there and he say: ''How do I demonstrate the product to the masses. This initiative will be a 'trailer' on what the Internet in Hindi will be.'' Unfortunately, our Government think just like you. There in Thailand, Japan, and China, local languages are used on net. India, we have official languages act, nothing else-no law requiring mandatory software in Hindi or other language. In middle-east sir, you try this you will have your leg chopped off: there all it devices have to support Arabic. Keyboards also problem in India. Some languages have software keyboards. That take too much time to type, Moniji. My cousin's brother-in-law work in C-DAC and he tell me about technical difficulties for language sites. Firstly, you need fonts that are browser friendly. Then, you need standard. He give me example of Telugu where if file is in Shrilpi software you may not open it using Shankranti software. That, little Greek and Latin to me, but you must understand. So, there are problems Moniji, but not enough for you to write off local language sites. Technical problems go away with time. And many Governments like Chandrababuji's are investing in e-governance. Content, different cup of coconut water. Myself, student of human nature. Madrasis, they like films, music. They also worry about education and family. These important in Tamil sites. Same way sir, Gujarati people need information on stock market, business, and international news. They have relatives abroad. Sify already have finance site walletwatch in Gujarati version. So, sir, next time, please think before saying something. You are big man, Moniji. And people may believe what you are saying. Namaste. Thanking you sincerely, Rajendra Gupta (aka) Vinod Mahanta with Nitya Varadarajan & E.K. Sharma |
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Myself
Rajendra Gupta, resident of New Delhi and son of late Ved Prakash Gupta,
former Deputy News Editor, Press Trust of India. Apropos your quote in
Business Now dated December 30, 2000 that ''the primary language of
internet in India will be English,'' I take objection. Our country have
1,652 languages Moniji and Constitution recognise 18 of them. Only 5 per
cent Indians know English; that comprises of educated people like we two.
Do you know, sir, 60 crore Indians speak Hindi? 21 crore Bengali? And 8
crore Madrasi, er.. sorry, Tamil? That's why big portals-Rediff, Indya,
Sify-have item in these languages.