ppy and irreversible inevitability. So we have
to laugh at the doomsayers who only complain about the supremacy of
English. Such supremacy is not wrong in itself, because it is mainly
based on statistics (more PCs per inhabitant, more people speaking
English, etc.). The answer is not to 'fight' English, much less whine
about it, but to build more sites in other languages. As a translation
service, we also recommend that websites be multilingual. The
increasing number of languages on the internet is inevitable and can
only boost multicultural exchanges. For this to happen in the best
possible circumstances, we still need to develop tools to improve
compatibility. Fully coping with accents and other characters is only
one example of what can be done."

In 1998, Henri Slettenhaar was a professor at Webster University,
Geneva, Swizerland. He insisted regularly on the need of bilingual
websites, in the original language and in English. He wrote in December
1998: "I see multilingualism as a very important issue. Local
communities that are on the web should principally use the local
language for their information. If they want to present it to the world
community as well, it should be in English too. I see a real need for
bilingual websites. I am delighted there are so many offerings in the
original language now. I much prefer to read the original with
difficulty than getting a bad translation."

He added in August 1999: "There are two main categories in my opinion.
The first one is the global outreach for business and information. Here
the language is definitely English first, with local versions where
appropriate. The second one is local information of all kinds in the
most remote places. If the information is meant for people of an ethnic
and/or language group, it should be in that language first with perhaps
a summary in English. We have seen lately how important these local
websites are -- in Kosovo and Turkey, to mention just the most recent
ones. People were able to get information about their relatives through
these sites."

He added in August 2000: "Multilingualism has expanded greatly. Many
e-commerce websites are multilingual now and there are companies that
sell products which make localization possible (adaptation of websites
to national markets)."

Non English-speaking users reached 50% in Summer 2000. According to the
company Global Reach, they were 52.5% in Summer 2001, 57% in December
2001, 59.8% in April