Download - Российский комитет Программы ЮНЕСКО ...

uilding up a cult of ethnic exceptionness or alienation from other population
groups, used to raise our concern. However, now we witness the emergence
of the first multilingual social network Godudu – a project supported by the
Ministry of Communications and Mass Media of the Russian Federation and
the Government of the Republic of Dagestan. The investment project was
initiated by businessmen from the United Arab Emirates, a country showing
how modern technological solutions can be combined with preserving original
cultural traditions. Language barrier is the last barrier to people’s unlimited
communication in the Internet era. Godudu developers provide users with
an opportunity to write in their mother tongue to addressees speaking other
languages. It is made possible with an online translator. For now the system
knows five languages and the translation lack quality, however it is already
a great alternative to a communication failure. Although Godudu does not
support Dagestanian languages as yet, the project’s authors pin themself to add
them in the course of the network development. They are also planning a system
to let users study their mother tongues by following their own correspondence.
It is evident today, that developing digital resources allows for Dagestanian
languages to integrate successfully into the new social reality, ensuring their
active use in every sphere of life. Technological change and ITCs do not bring
harm to the indigenous languages “cultural aura”, but, on the contrary, can
make up for the poor conditions, in which these languages used to exist.
167