Moreover the Web is our 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?"