What do Arabic and Hebrew, Thai and Hindi have in common? They are among more than 180 languages that VeriSign, the top Internet naming authority, has added to its system for handing out Web addresses.
The firm, which has been adding scores of languages as part of a trial program begun last November, says the expansion brings to more than 350 the total number of languages in which Web addresses can be registered.
The move further opens up the Internet to non-native English speakers. VeriSign cited estimates by GlobalSight, a research firm, predicting that non-English speakers will make up two-thirds of all Internet users by 2003.
Currently, as many as eight in ten Web sites primarily feature English-language content, despite the fact that native English speakers make up only about 7 percent of the world's population.
"The Internet is still in its early stages as a communications tool," Doug Wolford, VeriSign's general manager of Web Presence Services, said in a statement. "By making it easier for people around the world to use the Internet in their own language, we have taken a huge step towards making it a truly global medium."
Including the latest expansion, VeriSign's said its registrar now offers Web addresses in languages used by about 80 percent of the world's population.
The company said it has registered hundreds of thousands of multilingual domain names but noted that "resolution" of the newfangled Web addresses is pending and cannot be guaranteed.
With the inclusion of new languages into VeriSign's domain name system, Internet users are able to choose Web site and email addresses that use special letters, accents and marks instead of the standard Roman letters and numbers currently used.
