Every year we come across articles in newspapers claiming that local languages are next big thing on the internet, however, there is no authentic evidence in these articles. We hardly come across articles pertaining to compelling applications, new sectors or start-ups. Our assumption that the internet is all about search and content remains unchanged. These articles are filled with quotes from the same companies and even numbers are from associations. Our thought process, creativity, ideas get stuck at the same old points or issues:
- English speaking market is saturated now. How growth will come in the online population?
- Data prices are slashing down
- Penetration of smartphone and internet on mobile is growing
- 3G and 4G will propel the reach of the internet
- The domain name which allows local scripts have arrived
Despite these arguments, the online growth of pure vernacular user remains slow and there seem to be no major breakthroughs. There are several other issues that need to be addressed before we witness any rapid growth in this segment.
- The cost of human translation is huge and due to low CPM, websites are shying away from launching multilingual clones. We all heard that IRCTC is planning a beta launch of its Hindi version very soon. Why did Indian railways wait so many years to cater to the language spoken by the majority of its travelers?
- Lack of meaningful UGC such as local Wikipedia pages or yahoo answers in local languages.
- Lack of availability of reliable machine translation for Indian languages
- Not enough profit to give each language the effort it needs. Grouping them all under one portal is not user-friendly.
- The keyboard has always been a challenge and changing the consumer’s perception of “English-friendly computers” requires a wide and innovative marketing push.
- Many users don’t understand why they need a tablet hence tablets have not taken off. The touch technology can’t succeed when the perceived utility is low and prevailing inertia is high.
- The commercial aspect of English attracts the youth. Knowledge of English language ensures them the job or career opportunity and better social standing
- Large web companies continue to focus on users who think in English and their tools and email interfaces assume working knowledge of English. Such users comprise the 150 million Indians who understand English. But what about the rest?
- Lack of government policies to encourage PC makers to provide a variety of pre-installed language tools giving users more choices.
- Compelling applications – Facebook is a great example. The number of users who have declared a second language in their Facebook profile is dismal. The question is – will an English speaking user will invite someone who doesn’t understand English in his network?
We don’t have any answer to these common questions. How a family of non-English users will benefit from the internet? The industry needs to think deeply about our society and the inherent prejudices and boundaries that language creates among us. How the internet is going to benefit when one of them take up a job in the nearby city. How they will supplement their income or improve their health with this new medium.
We all need to understand these issues and come up with meaningful solutions. The Indian media needs to bring focus to sectors like education, finance, and health wherein the internet can make a difference rather than keep over emphasizing on sectors such as news, entertainment, and communication which are largely dominated by voice and Tv.
We need to understand that content and search are only the building blocks. They are the salt and sugar of the internet world. Where is the delicious recipe that will make a million jump online?
Do let us know your views on this.
Special Thanks to: Ms. Anajali Gupta
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