Archive for January 24th, 2012
Language Timothy!
Had a really good discussion with a few folk today, about the fact that English has become the global language of the Internet.
Why? Because English-speaking people invented the concept, yet didn’t consider the global potential perhaps.
Because of this lack of foresight we are still mostly stuck with browsers that do not readily accept foreign language characters for URLs. Imagine how that limits countries where English isn’t a first language.
Take a look at the URLs for Wikipedia articles in non-English languages. Talk about non-intuitive usability! (If you can say non-intuitive usability!)
And well done to Google (and their language tools) and other search engines like baidu that are the attempt to get around this problem
Babelfish can be an amusingly inaccurate translatifictor but has helped me work through translating French, Spanish and German sites with its “Translate a Web page” option.
Try inserting some text, a nursery rhyme for example. Translate it into another language and then translate THAT text back into English. Some incredibly amusing results!
Anybody got any other “answers” to the multilingual “challenge”? e.g. sites, tools and tips
The Qatar Academy, Doha, Qatar – Day 3
Our third day at the Qatar Academy, another rewarding day spent with dymanic teachers and learners.
During today we also had the opportunity to spend time with the TIFs – Technology Intergration Facilitors. This team work alongside classroom teachers, sharing in initial planning sessions with the teachers, then, team teaching, supporting skill development and approaches, when utilising technology. They are a very special bunch, Steven Shepherd, Stacey Simpson and Scott Johnson and a delight to spent time with. Also joining us during this session was Craig Paterson, always a valuble addition. Continue Reading
As well as our events, we like to share interesting, and more often than not, FREE tools, resources and ideas, some old, some new, and we hope you might find something useful. We'd love your thoughts. Tim & Sarah
