A Risk for Our Languages and a Challenge for Language Technology
We are currently witnessing a digital revolution that is comparable to Gutenberg’s invention of the printing press.
We are witnesses to a digital revolution that is dramatically impacting communication and society. Recent developments in digitised and network communication technology are sometimes compared to Gutenberg’s invention of the printing press. What can this analogy tell us about the future of the European information society and our languages in particular?
After Gutenberg’s invention, real breakthroughs in communication and knowledge exchange were accomplished by efforts like Luther’s translation of the Bible into common language. In subsequent centuries, cultural techniques have been developed to better handle language processing and knowledge exchange:
- the orthographic and grammatical standardisation of major languages enabled the rapid dissemination of new scientific and intellectual ideas;
- the development of official languages made it possible for citizens to communicate within certain (often political) boundaries;
- the teaching and translation of languages enabled an exchange across languages;
- the creation of journalistic and bibliographic guidelines assured the quality and availability of printed material;
- the creation of different media like newspapers, radio, television, books, and other formats satisfied different communication needs.
In the past twenty years, information technology helped to automate and facilitate many of the processes:
- desktop publishing software replaces typewriting and typesetting;
- Microsoft PowerPoint replaces overhead projector transparencies;
- e-mail sends and receives documents faster than a fax machine;
- Skype makes Internet phone calls and hosts virtual meetings;
- audio and video encoding formats make it easy to exchange multimedia content;
- search engines provide keyword-based access to web pages;
- online services like Google Translate produce quick and approximate translations;
- social media platforms facilitate collaboration and information sharing.
Although such tools and applications are helpful, they currently cannot sufficiently implement a sustainable, multilingual European information society, a modern and inclusive society where information and goods can flow freely.
