ur main field for gathering information on the set of
themes we are concerned with. Among others, we regularly and frequently watch
the sites circulating daily and/or weekly news. At this level, we can say
without hesitation that we use the Internet more than the other available
written resources to carry out our activities.

Otherwise we prolifically use electronic mail to maintain relations with our
contributors in order to obtain information and realize some projects. CEVEIL is
a 'network structure' which would survive with difficulty without the Internet
to connect together all the people who are implicated.

Finally it is useful to point out that the Web is also our most important tool
for distributing our products to our target clients: sending of electronic news
reports to our subscribers, creation of an electronic periodical, information
and document distribution via our website, etc."

ML: "How does CEVEIL see the future of Internet-related activities as regards
languages?"

CEVEIL: "The Internet is here to stay. The arrival of languages other than
English to this medium also is irreversible. Therefore it is necessary to take
these new facts into consideration from an economic, social, political,
cultural, etc., point of view. Sectors such as advertising, vocational training,
work in groups or within networks and knowledge management, will consequently
have to evolve. As we mentioned above, it brings us back to the necessary
development of really effective technologies and tools which will further
exchanges in a really multilingual global village..."

2.3. Diversity of Languages: The Situation in Europe

Henri Slettenhaar, professor at the Webster University, Geneva, Switzerland, is
a trilingual European. He is Dutch, he teaches computer science in English, and
he speaks French too because he lives in France. He answered my questions in his
e-mail of December 21, 1998.

ML: "How do you see multilingualism on the Internet?"

HS: "I see multilingualism as a very important issue. Local communities which
are on the Web should use the local language first and foremost for their
information. If they want to be able to present their information to the world
community as well, their information should be in English as well. I see a real
need for bilingual websites."

ML: "How do you see the future of Internet-related activities as regards
languages?"

HS: "As far as languages are concerned, I am delighted