English Language Divide Case Study

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In India, majority of the population are not well versed in English except for the minority. This minority tends to be highly educated, prosperous and they are usually the elite in India where English is their main language. According to the UN, more than 80% of the entire websites are in English with little content in their local language. Moreover, websites originated from the West, where English is the dominant language. This phenomenon had created a language divide in India due to the lack of Information and Communication Technology (ICT). There is a need to target the non-fluent English majority in India through education and government help in order to eliminate the language divide due to ICT.
English being the main language on the website …show more content…

Even though the Indian government is coming up with initiatives to solve the English language barrier with IT solution, it will not be enough to help the Indian majority. According to the Constitution of India, English language is the official language in India and it is used solely for official purpose while different states in India can adopt other language other than English to be their official language. In addition, there is strong cultural pride on language in some states where these states do not practice English which caused English language becomes inferior in these states. Nevertheless, the youth (15 – 24 years) literacy rate (%) 2008 – 2012 for male and female in India is 88.4% and 74.4% respectively. This shows that education can be used as a medium to create awareness among the youth that English language is important in the world of ICT. Therefore, there is a need to promote English through education to the majority in India that English is important in bridging the gap in the world of ICT.
In conclusion, there will always be language divide in India due to the fact that English language is a predominant language throughout the websites. In order to overcome this language barrier, government needs to create awareness to its people that English is important in the world of ICT through education. Besides that, the government needs to work closely with organisation to enhance their initiative to improve the website which allows their user to access it with their local languages. However, the individual needs

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