Google Goes Native
As last week’s article in The Economist, Google it in Quechua noted, Google has launched a version in Quechua (www.google.com/intl/qu/), an ancient native language spoken mainly in the Andes of Peru, Colombia, Ecuador and Bolivia. Quechua was the official language of the Inka empire and still is the second official language of Peru and Bolivia. In decline since the time of the Spanish conquest in the 16th century, an estimated 10 million people speak it today.
My first reaction when I read about Google’s inclusion of this native language in its repertoire was to wonder whether the intended users will actually have access to computers or if they will even care that search engines exists! Google’s translation project claims to want to build a truly world wide web – all the power to them for being inclusive and hopefully along the way promoting the preservation of an ancient language.
As to the accessibility question, it seems Google is not the only one with an interest in this part of the world. Earlier this year the Quechua version of Windows OS (“T’uqu”) and MSOffice applications were introduced in Peru and in Bolivia, part of Microsoft’s “digital inclusion” plan. Microsoft has taken on an initiative to reach 30% of the Quechua speaking population and as part of their program they would train 900 instructors in Bolivia alone. Click here for details (article is in Spanish). This doesn’t resolve the issue of people not having the means to buy software and hardware when their day-to-day preoccupations are around eating and having a roof over their heads, but the fact that Evo Morales, Bolivian president, is behind this initiative makes me think there must be an angle to this that aims to promote the race and culture of the people in question.
Linguistic project or nationalist initiative, I am all for the advancement and diffusion of technology and even more so in favour of preserving an ancient language, an icon of an ancient culture. It will be interesting to see whether these projects are successful and, if they do take off, how they affect societies that up to now have been somewhat isolated from these advancements. Hopefully having access to the web in their own language will bring to the Quechua speaking population all the benefits and efficiencies that technology can bring but not at the cost of loss of cultural values and traditions.
We will have to learn a few phrases in Quechua and try them out on our next research trip to Peru this Fall so we can promote the preservation of this language!
This article was posted by Veronica Montero
That didn't work very well... let's try this again. It should be all on one line:
http://featured.gigaom.com/2006/09/01/
gigaom-on-the-road-wireless-peru/
Posted by: Jen | September 01, 2006 at 04:18 PM
Om Malik wrote about his trip to Peru in his blog today. He was clearly impressed by the spread of technology in this developing country: http://featured.gigaom.com/2006/09/01/gigaom-on-the-road-wireless-peru/
Posted by: Jen | September 01, 2006 at 04:17 PM