The New Nation - Internet Edition

The Local Language Programme (LLP) is a worldwide initiative of Microsoft dedicated to providing individuals access to computer software in their native language (Bengali, in our case). The initiative was designed to provide people an entry to technology in a language that is familiar and that honours their linguistic and cultural distinctions. There are three pillars to the Local Language Programme:

Language/Culture Pillar: This is represented by the creation of a Glossary-

A standard IT glossary is translated into the local language through collaboration from local governments, universities, and language experts. The glossaries are freely downloadable from the community glossary Website and will be made available once the LIP (see below) is released.

Technology Pillar: This is represented by the Language Interface Pack (LIP)-Developed from the glossary, this application provides a native language desktop user interface. Once the LIP is installed, the user interface for Microsoft Office Standard Edition 2007 and Windows Vista is translated to the desired language.

Community Pillar: This is represented by the development of local solutions on top of the LIPs-Solutions such as spelling checkers, translation dictionaries, screen savers, and others may be among these developments.

Overview:Governments around the world are facing a great challenge in today's global economy-the need to quickly build a strong information technology (IT) industry. Microsoft is committed to providing the tools and technologies required to develop, enhance, and expand local IT economies and to enable language groups of all sizes to participate in this growth. The Local Language Programme is designed to provide these opportunities to people of all regions, cultures, and languages in close collaboration with regional and local governments and universities.

The Local Language Programme addresses several critical goals of national and regional governments worldwide:

Developing a robust local IT economy: Building universal IT solutions for multi-language cultures.

Enabling the use of regional languages in technology to facilitate the preservation of language and culture.

A Commitment to Global Communities: The Local Language Programme encourages growth of the local IT economy by offering the tools and knowledge needed by local users to create their own language solutions for desktop computer software.

The Bangladesh Perspective: Microsoft Bangladesh unleashed Local Language Programme (LLP) on November 8, 2006. to offer computing interface in Bengali language as a part of Microsoft's long-term commitment towards Bangladesh. LLP is designed specifically to collaborate with governments around the world and to provide them with the tools and technologies needed to realise the societal and economic benefits of the growing IT industry by enabling computer usage in the local language.

The Local Language Programme provides great opportunities to people of all cultures, regions, locales and languages by facilitating access and promoting communication and interaction.

Through this program, local and regional government participants can localise Windows® Vista and Office 2007 to one language interface through a Language Interface Pack (LIP). Hence, creating great opportunities to make computers more relevant to common people and creating opportunities for education, public and private services and addressing the digital divide. Microsoft Bangladesh has been partnering with Bangladesh Computer Council (BCC) and BRAC University (BU) to prepare the Bangla Language Interface Pack under the Local Language Programme. This highly challenging work is presently ongoing in the language centres of Bangladesh.

When completed, the Bengali LIP will be available as a free download. The Language Interface Pack may also be distributed on behalf of Microsoft by participating third parties such as governments and local language programme partners. The Language Interface Pack will provide the local government with an efficient and collaborative method of creating local language adaptations of software products for the benefit of the citizens.