- The Internet has contributed and will contribute to the wildfire spread of
English as a world language.
- The Internet can greatly help minority languages, but this will not happen by
itself. It will only happen if people want to maintain the language as an aim in
itself.
- The Web is very useful for delivering language lessons, and there is a big
demand for this.
- The Unicode (ISO 10646) character set standard is very important and will
greatly assist in making the Internet more multilingual.
*Interview of January 15, 2000
= What exactly do you do professionally?
I teach computing (through the Gaelic language) at a college on the island of
Skye in Scotland. I maintain the college website, which is the main site
worldwide with information on Scottish Gaelic.
= What do you think of the debate about copyright on the Web?
I haven't been following the debate, but I think the duration of copyright is
far too long. Other than that I think that copyright should be respected in
general.
= How do you see the growth of a multilingual Web?
There is a danger that English will take over the world because of the spread of
the Internet. However, if people are keen to maintain other languages, then the
Internet will help with this.
= What is your best experience with the Internet?
[Private matters.]
= And your worst experience?
I don't have any really bad experiences with the Internet. Just the usual -
spam, hackers, but nothing really bad.
*Interview of May 31st, 2001
= What has happened since our last interview?
There has been a great expansion in the use of information technology at the
Gaelic-medium college here. Far more computers, more computing staff, flat
screens. Students do everything by computer, use Gaelic spell-checking, Gaelic
online terminology database. More hits on our web site. More use of sound.
Gaelic radio (both Scottish and Irish) now available continuously worldwide via
the Internet. Major project has been translation the Opera web-browser into
Gaelic - the first software of any size available in Gaelic.
= Do you have anything to add to your previous answers?
I would emphasise the point that as regards the future of endangered languages,
the Internet speeds everything up. If people don't care about preserving
languages, the Internet and accompanying globalisation will greatly speed their
demise. If people do care about preserving them, the Internet will be a
tremendous help.
= How much do you still work with paper?
I work with paper a lot, but far less than with computer delivered information.
I write about 2.000 e-mails per year, compared to about 100 letters and about
500 phone calls and about 15 faxes.
= Will there still be a place for paper in the future?
Yes, there will still be a place for paper for a long long time to come, but its
share will continue to decline compared to computer-delivered information.
= What do you think about e-books?