Multi-Lingual Mobile Domains Will Break Up Anglo-Dominant Mobile Interfaces

17 Jul Multi-Lingual Mobile Domains Will Break Up Anglo-Dominant Mobile Interfaces

By Dr Muriel Vernon

Linguistic anthropologists have long maintained that not only does language competence enables cultural competence, but also that language is inextricably bound to cultural dominance. We see it everywhere: dominant cultures impose their language on less dominant ones to control anything from global governance to global communication. English speaking nations have a long history of operationalizing language as instruments of colonization, acculturation, and dependency. Less privileged people are often forced to code switch from their native languages and dialects when engaging interlocutors of dominant cultures. Even two speakers who share a native language can produce linguistic inequality when, for example white people claim they don’t “understand” African Americans who use Black English Vernacular (BEV) as Alim and Smitherman (2012) have noted. 

What do linguistic dominance and language competency mean in digital or mobile communication worlds? We know that becoming a competent language speaker is the foundation of becoming a socially competent member of one’s society.

In digital worlds, technological competency depends on dominant language competency. English is the language spoken by most people in the world followed by Mandarin Chinese. Until very recently, developing foreign language skills to communicate in one or more of the dominant languages took many years of study and practice. But now that instant translation technologies —for example, what Gaston Dorren (2018) describes as the “Babel Chip” —are on the horizon that could theoretically enable any mobile phone user to become proficient in any language instantaneously, the dominant language of future mobile communication might no longer be thought of as English or Chinese but rather “Techlish” or “Technese.” And although over time our cognitive ability to learn another language might atrophy in the process, this could be a massive shift in eliminating linguistic inequality and allow minority language speakers to participate in mobile global communications. 

Developing nations like India and Africa are rapidly adopting mobile phone technology and are quickly becoming proficient in technological competency. However, dominant language literacy remains the entry barrier imposed by the cultural hegemony of those who design mobile communication platforms. While it might soon be possible to rely on instant translations, structural features of mobile communication platforms remain tied to dominant languages and therefore inaccessible to users. 

One such structural feature that is key to the architecture of web browsers and web sites is the URL or domain name. The English language dominance of domains effectively reproduces cultural hegemony by excluding domain names in other languages. This is not simply a matter of incompatibility of non-English language symbols or non-Roman alphabet characters that cannot be included in a domain name; it is a reflection of Anglo-centrism in its design and conception. It enforces Anglicization of just about any web based identity presence and interaction, which in turn reinforces digital control by dominant cultures.

Since mobile interfaces do not yet have domain names analogous to websites, Linket is taking the first innovative step to creating an opportunity to break with Anglo-centric design features and liberate mobile domain names from linguistic imperialism. Many developing nations are skipping the PC as their first introduction to digital communications; mobile phones account for the vast majority of communication devices in the world. If mobile domain names could appear in many different languages, the mobile world would finally resemble and serve the increasingly global community who interacts in it. Members of linguistically distinct communities could build mobile communication networks based on their own domain registries without the need to interpret its English counterparts. Individuals could design their own mobile IDs in their native languages rather than compromising authenticity in favor or technological feasibility. As the world is increasingly moving into multi-lingual communicative practices while remaining tied to Anglo-centric mobile interface control, the future mobile domain name will be the first passport to mobile global citizenship.

References Cited

Alim, Sami & Geneva Smitherman

2012. Articulate while Black: Barack Obama, Language, and Race in the U.S. New York: Oxford University Press

Dorren, Gaston

2018. Babel: Around the World in Twenty Languages. New York: Atlantic Monthly Press