2015考研必读杂志《经济学人》节选

　　The world speaks nearly 7,000 languages. Mali, with a population of 15m, has 13 national languages and 40-60 smaller ones, depending on where the border between language and dialect is drawn. Firefox is available in 90 languages, which serve almost all of the 40% of the global population already online. Apple's most recent computer OS offers 33 languages out of the box,and the new iPhone, 35. Google offers 150, including dialects (and some spurious ones such as“ Pirate ” ). But some languages spoken by millions are excluded, including Tibetan (3m-4m speakers) and Bambara (10m, including those for whom it is a second tongue). Bringing the rest of the world online is not just a technical challenge, but a linguistic one.

　　全球总共有近7 种语言。马里是一个人口1500 万的国家，却有13 种民族语言，40-60 种小语言，此语言的数量取决于语言和方言的界限是如何划分的。火狐浏览器有90 个语言版本，供近全球40%网民使用。苹果最新的电脑系统开发了33 种新语言。新的苹果手机是35 种语言。谷歌提供了包括方言在内的150 种语言(还有一些虚构的语言比如海盗语言)。然而像藏语(300 万到400 万人使用)，曼丁哥语(1 千万人使用)被百万人口使用的一些语言却不在其中。让世界的每一个人都使用网络技术并不是唯一的难题，语言也是一个挑战。

　　As a non-profit, Mozilla can put effort into languages that offer no prospect of a quick return.Songhai and Fulah, recently made available in Firefox, are spoken mainly by poor, illiterate herders and farmers in the Sahel, who do not have smartphones. But when such people eventually get online, they will benefit more if they can do so in their own tongues.

　　谋智公司在语言上的努力是公益的，眼下并不能马上获得收益。火狐上增添了撒哈拉语和富拉赫语。这两种语言的使用者大部分是赛赫勒地区没有受过教育的农夫和牧民，他们没有智能手机。但是，当这些人有一天能上网时，发现可以使用本土语言，必然会从中受益匪浅。

　　As more languages are added, the Firefox OS will create a sort of global Rosetta stone. It uses all parts of speech, and older, colourful words are pressed into service. Mozilla has created a statistical tool for linguistic analyses. And though 40,000 words is not a whole vocabulary, it is a significant part. As well as bringing the linguistically excluded online, localisation may keep small languages alive.

　　随着语言的增加，火狐系统会成为一种“如师通”语言软件。它把各种词语，悠久的，丰富多彩的语言应用于一种服务中。谋智公司开发了数据工具来分析语言。虽然4 万词只是语言中的一角，但是是极其重要的。这不仅为网络增加了新的语言版本，本土化也使一些小语种存活下来。

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