Baaaaaa! Good for the welsh :)
A WELSH family has helped persuade computer magnate Bill Gates to provide Welsh translations for his software.
The Donnelly family, from Anglesey, have developed a Welsh alternative to the all-conquering Windows because they believe it is important that their children learn the Welsh for words such as "save" and "log off". Kevin and Rhian Donnelly tried out their technology on their daughter and two sons. "Computers are as important for any minority language now as the printing press was in the era of Gutenberg," said Mr Donnelly, who grew up in Northern Ireland and started learning Welsh in the 1980s.
"If minority languages don't make the leap to being used on the [computer] desktop as a fully functioning part of that desktop, people are going to close off a large part of their working lives to their minority language and use English instead. "If it's important to have road signs in Welsh, it's even more important to have Welsh on computer screens where people are using the language every day."
Instead of being driven mad by messages like "Browsing the network is not possible", Welsh computer users can now tear their hair out when "Nid yw pori'r rhwydwaith yn bosib" keeps popping up. In the late 1990s pressure from language campaigners led to Microsoft accepting features such as a Welsh spellchecker. But that left users of the world's most widespread operating systems, such as Microsoft Windows XP and MS Office, having to use English to command the computer and interpret messages.
Yesterday the Welsh Language Board announced a new partnership with Microsoft to produce Welsh interfaces for Microsoft Windows XP and Microsoft Office System. Microsoft will fund translation of a Welsh-language user pack, which will be given free to computer users later this year.
View: News @ Ic Wales
