Večjezičnost v knjižničnih informacijskih sistemih

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Language is an important factor of economic development; translation and localisation are necessary for the overall progress and economic development. In the European Union, language is key and English is no longer sufficient for the development of a common language policy; they are now striving to achieve a situation where every European would speak at least two foreign languages. In science, the number of publications in the researchers’ mother tongues has increased and publishing in English is no longer a sign of prestige. Languages are becoming extinct at an alarming rate; it is estimated that about 3000 will not survive this century. The loss of language also means the loss of identity to some extent. On the Internet, only about 10 % of world languages are active, and the share of English is only 25 % suggesting that it is losing its long-standing status as a lingua franca. The digital divide also has an impact on the use of languages on the Internet; because of that many large languages are visible on the Internet. The EU accepts the languages of all its member states as official EU languages. Even though language technologies for translation automation are being developed constantly, to this day they do not satisfy the quality criteria without any added human input. Digital libraries also support multilingualism with metadata playing an important part. The standardisation of bibliographic records allows for reading of data even in case one does not have perfect knowledge of the record language. Multilingualism is also supported in the COBISS system as the software and user documentation are available in the languages of the COBISS.Net region, which is an important contribution towards the rebabilonisation of the region, and subsequently the world.

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