Mark Thompson wrote:
> I believe the West HAS woken up to the input problems, if you consider the
> fact that many Western handset makers have integrated easy-to-use input
> systems such as Tegic's T9. (I am in no way affiliated with Tegic though I
> have seen a demo and I was very impressed). I have yet to see anything
> similar on Japanese cellphones -- thus the need for kawaii icons, preset
> messages and Morse code slang. Yes, they reflect a capabilty to adapt
> language to specific situations yada yada yada, but are they necessary,
> given the technology that is available? At this point in time, should't we
> be able to communicate as naturally as possible without learning shorthand
> and crytic codes?
>
I know the president of Tegic here in Japan (Ray is a cool guy) and even he
realizes there isn't much advantage to a T9 type assisted input for Japanese b/c
of the nature of the Japanese language. For some languages, like English, assisted
input is a boon, for others, like Japanese, it's not all the useful. Supposedly T9
is really good for Chinese, too. Therefore, the equivalent input assistance for
Japanese IS emoji (picture icons), just like email bread an explosion of smilies
(^^).
Also I think we need to be clear about the drivers to change in language.
Teenagers in Japan have been using slang and shortening words for a while now.
It's no coincidence that an increase in abbreviations came about just when mobile
mailing exploded, but it's not a good nor bad thing. Saying "koto-yoro" instead of
"kotoshimo yoroshiku onegaishimasu" is very "natural" as far as modern Japanese
goes.
And honestly when I'm dashing off a quick message to a friend I don't think it's a
compromise to send him a consise message taking full advantage of abbreviations.
It matches the situation, just like in general business emails are less formal and
more shorthand than business letters, which are more direct and concise than
personal letters.
Regards,
r e n
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Received on Thu Jan 25 10:01:46 2001