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Language, Power, and Software 287

imported to France and Web sites developed in that country must
use French as a matter of law. For the French, the enemy is the “An-
glophonic tide.” These French concerns are shared, though often less
articulately and less overtly, in other parts of the world. A senior
German telecom official recently commented, off the record, that
German concerns over the hegemony of English in the computer
world were almost as intense as those of the French. “But,” he
added, “we let the French do the talking for us.”
More important, worries about the “Anglophonic tide” in soft-
ware merge with deeper worries about the power of so-called “Anglo-
Saxon culture” on local values. What is the impact on villagers in
African hamlets when satellite television permits them to see “Dal-
las,” even if dubbed in Hausa, Igbo, or Swahili? How do Indian vil-
lagers react to Indian MTV, brought to them via satellite courtesy of
Star TV, and MC’d in English by a laid back young Indian with an
American accent? How does the spread of computers and computer-
mediated communication (Internet, Web) influence existing inequal-
ities of power within each society? How does it influence the gap
between the rich societies of the North and the poor societies of the
South? And does the dominance of English as the language of com-
putation, Internet, and the World Wide Web contribute to undermin-
ing the vitality and richness of ancient, non-Anglo-Saxon cultures,
especially in Africa and Asia?
These questions are too rarely asked, perhaps because they
have no simple answers. Yet if we agree that the new electronic tech-
nologies are the most innovative and powerful technologies of the
new millenium, then these questions, however difficult, must be
asked. How do the new electronic technologies affect existing in-
equalities within and between nations? How do they impact the cul-
tural diversity of the world?

Information Technology in South Asia
The seven nations of South Asia are in some respects unique, in some
respects important in themselves, and in some respects illustrative of
problems faced by many other regions. The basic facts about South
Asia are well known. Approximately one fourth of the world’s popula-
tion (1.2–1.3 billion persons) lives in the seven nations of India, Pak-
istan, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka, Nepal, Bhutan, and the Maldives. An
estimated 5% of this population speaks good English, giving the sub-
continent the second largest English-speaking population in the