One of the most basic things about reading (or writing) English is the left-to-right motion. Blogger’s now able to accommodate right-to-left movements, however, and as a result, has become available in Persian, Hebrew, and Arabic.
The technical aspects of this accomplishment are impressive; a post on Blogger Buzz calls the development “a huge milestone for us,” and states, “we had to flip the whole interface around.”
Also, there’s no telling what kind of boost in users this could create for Google and Blogger; if Wikipedia’s to be believed, at least 400 million people speak either Persian, Hebrew, or Arabic. Yet we’re even more interested by the potential social consequences of Google’s move.
Mark Hopkins outlines them well, writing, “[T]he Middle East is the most likely candidate for positive results from decreased barriers to open communication. In other war-torn areas, we’ve seen what an influx of technology can do for those seeking to raise awareness and find solutions in the face of what is usually state-sponsored oppression.”
He then continues, “In the Middle East, especially known for blocking sites that violate moral regulations, having a tool like Blogger that is simple to implement and provides a large platform to the world (think Salam Pax) can on the whole only lead to good things.”
For the sake of even better communication, we’re hoping that some improved translation tools are on the way, as well.
