FYI, ICANN has added 2 languages to its IDN Wiki - Amharic
and Hebrew. Among languages of Africa, Arabic is also included.
On the topic of IDN, I note that there are apparently no test
domains in extended Latin?? Any info to the contrary or explanations would be
of interest. How would, for instance, combining diacritics work in an IDN?
Don Osborn
Bisharat.net
http://www.icann.org/announcements/announcement-19mar08.htm
New Languages Added to ICANN’s IDN Wiki
Hebrew, Amharic speakers now have pages on Internationalized
Domain Names evaluation site
19 March 2008
MARINA DEL REY, Calif.: Hebrew and Amharic speakers now have
dedicated wiki pages to share their experiences as a part of the global
evaluation of Internationalized Domain Names (IDNs) being done by the Internet
Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers.
"Since its launch in October 2007, the IDN wiki has
helped ICANN and the Internet community look at exactly how IDNs operate in the
root, and how different software handles domain names in characters from
different scripts," said Tina Dam, ICANN’s IDN Program Director.
"We’re hoping that Internet users who understand Hebrew and Amharic will
access these wiki pages and share their experiences."
The IDN wiki was initially based on 11 example.test domains
in Arabic, Persian, Chinese (simplified and traditional), Russian, Hindi,
Greek, Korean, Yiddish, Japanese and Tamil. The wiki allows Internet users to
establish their own subpages with their own names in their own language such as
example.test/yourname.
Though the new languages will not be used for translations
of example.test in the Internet’s root, they will be used at the fourth level
(after the top level “org”, the second level “icann”, and the third level
“idn”) so users can have dedicated wiki pages. These language extensions to the
wiki are available at http://am.idn.icann.org and http://he.idn.icann.org.
As well, with the Hebrew addition, since there is a .test
TLD label in Hebrew script, an additional address has been assigned in the
Hebrew language — http://דוגמא.טעסט. (If this link doesn’t
work in your browser, you can access an embedded link at
http://idn.icann.org/Hebrew_script.)
"We have been able to add these languages to the wiki
because of interest from the community and the availability of a volunteer
moderator fluent in the language to spend time with the wiki support team to
localize the language area and work with users," added Dam. "Anyone
interested in adding new languages can contact me directly at
tina.dam@xxxxxxxxxx"
About ICANN:
ICANN is responsible for the global coordination of the
Internet's system of unique identifiers like domain names (like .org, .museum
and country codes like .uk) and the addresses used in a variety of Internet
protocols that help computers reach each other over the Internet. Careful
management of these resources is vital to the Internet's operation, so ICANN's
global stakeholders meet regularly to develop policies that ensure the
Internet's ongoing security and stability. ICANN is an internationally
organized, public benefit non-profit company. For more information please
visit: www.icann.org .
Media Contacts:
Jason Keenan
Media Adviser, ICANN
Ph: +1 310 382 4004
E: jason.keenan@xxxxxxxxx
International: Andrew Robertson
Edelman (London)
Ph: +44 7921 588 770
E: andrew.robertson@xxxxxxxxxxx
