Now get Indian language dictionary on your mobile

Mysore, Aug 24: The Central Institute of Indian Languages (CIIL), which is producing Dictionaries in 20 Indian Languages in association with the UK based Orient Longman Pvt Ltd, is working out the modalities to come out with a Dictionary for Mobile users.

The CIIL sources told the sources that 11 dictionaries in the book form are set for release in 2009 English, Kannada, Tamil, Telugu, Malayalam, Bengali, Hindi, Oriya and a few other languages. The service was primarly aimed at facilitating academics and those engaged in translation work, although the larger objective was to help the common people to develop language skills. The CIIL is in touch with top mobile phone service providers in the country to elicit their interest on availing themselves of its Dictionaries for their customers.

The Union Government, which is funding the country"s biggest Translation Mission (NTM))-under the 11th Plan, has reportedly asked the CIIL, NTM's nodal agency, to explore the possibilities of popularising online Dictionaries, including Dictionaries on mobile phones.

According to CIIL Director Udai Naryana Singh, simplified Dictionaries could be imported into mobile phone technology and users could use the service in their choice of language.

The idea of providing Dictionaries on mobile phones has come from the government and therefore, we are holding talks with the mobile phone service providers on the feasibility of having this latest service for their customers, he added.

The dictionaries were being developed in unicode standard and therefore, it was easy for the programmers to have them in their mobile phone technology. Dr Singh said that the new exercise won"t be an easy one as there are certain issues, including technology, script, etc, to be addressed. "We are ready to provide suiting the users, to the service providers. It was up to them to see how the service could be incorporated into their technology. The Institute shall not be involved in the technological aspects," he noted.

There was a belief that Dictionaries on mobile phones help the people get meanings of words as and when it was required, as the accessory would be with the users all the time.

The Dictionary content need not be the same as in the book form, it could be simplified and whatever necessary could be imported into the technology as the content has to be stored in the servers of service providers requiring large space, he added.

The mobile phones service providers, with whom the Institute had held talks, would consider the extent of mobile phone use in the States where the languages are primarily spoken. The number of active mobile phone users in southern states was more and therefore, the service providers may begin the new service from these states on a 'pilot basis" before expanding it to other states.

UNI