9
1
7
In pairs, discuss the following questions.
How might a multilingual Internet help you in your
studies/work?
Can you think of any drawbacks to such a system?
Think!
Discussion
‹
Vocabulary Practice
‹
5
Here are some phrases from the text you have just
read. Choose the correct meaning of each phrase.
A
mother
cultural
credit card
access
professional
world
B
use
tongue
diversity
markets
the Internet
details
1
… a threat to cultural diversity
(lines 6-7)
a
cultural variety might be attacked
b
cultural variety might disappear
2
… become growth areas …
(sentence C)
a
are increasing in size
b
are increasing their business activities
3
… a huge challenge
(line 36)
a
having to translate sites into different languages
b
having to improve the quality of existing systems
4
… translating websites is only the first step
(line 38)
a
there will be further problems to face
b
websites need to be translated first
5
… change their way of doing business
(sentence A)
a
companies will need to change the products
they sell
b
companies will need to change their approach
to business
6
… could well limit larger companies …
(line 57)
a
larger companies will be limited by smaller
companies
b
larger companies will be at a disadvantage
3
In pairs, look at the words in bold in the text and
try to explain them.
4
Match the words. Make sentences using them.
6
Now scan the text, underline and note down the
reasons why websites will need to become
multilingual in the near future. Then, in pairs,
discuss any other reasons you can think of for
developing multilingual websites.
My mother tongue is Polish.
Text Analysis
‹
technical and linguistic difficulties. And unfortunately, they
are problems with no easy solutions.
For one thing, companies are unable to use the automated
translation systems which already exist in the market.
This has left businesses all over the world facing a
huge challenge with virtually no real information about how
to do it.
And translating websites is only the first step that companies
will have to deal with. There are also likely to be customers
with questions or problems that they will need to discuss in
their own language. Another thing companies will need to
do is adapt their advertising materials so as not to offend
different cultures.
In Japan, for example, they do
not tend to give their credit card details over the Web. There
are also all sorts of legal issues to take into consideration.
Such vast changes will not happen overnight. In the first place
it is impossible to say exactly how many texts there are on the
Web as the number is changing all the time.
Companies doing e-business simply need time to translate their
sites into the various languages necessary to do business.
Meanwhile, more and more material in different languages is
being added to the Web at an ever-increasing pace.
While all this is happening, small local companies doing e-
business only in the language of their target market and
who are also aware of the cultural aspects of that market,
will certainly be at an advantage.
The problems of
language and culture could well limit larger companies from
expanding and so offer more opportunities to smaller
businesses in poorer areas of the world.
4
3
6
5
35
40
45
50
55
