新技术简化手机短信输入难题_时事_双语阅读-查字典英语网

新技术简化手机短信输入难题

As mobile phones reach more of India's gigantic population, one of the challenges facing both users and service providers is the country's linguistic diversity.

随着印度规模庞大的人口中有更多的人开始使用手机，用户和服务提供商都面临的挑战之一是印度语言的多样性。

The number of mobile users in India has grown explosively to more than 900 million today from about 4 million in 2001, according to the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India. Most of the handsets available in the market feature qwerty keypads that are easy to use for the country's urban, English-speaking population. But these keypads could be tricky for many others in rural areas who speak only regional languages.

据印度电信监管局(Telecom Regulatory Authority of India)的数据显示，印度手机用户从2001年的约400万人爆增至目前的逾9亿人。市场上出售的手机大部分使用的是传统的qwerty键盘，这种键盘对印度说英语的城市居民来说便于使用，但对很多其他只会说地方语言的农村用户来说，这样的键盘用起来颇为麻烦。

While many rural Indians who don't have fixed-line phones at home use their cellphones for voice calls, lack of support for local languages on mobile phones often prevents them from using text messages, address books, Internet browsers and other mobile applications that require them to type letters as well as numbers.