It's called UNL for short, and it is an electronic tool that enables communication between different native languages. UNL is a software system that will reside on the Internet and will be compatible with standard network browsers. Any person with access to the Internet will be able to "enconvert" text from a range of native languages into the UNL. Just as easily, any UNL text can be "deconverted" from UNL into native languages.

The Internet holds promise of access to information to all people, but the evolution of English as the de facto standard language of the Internet limits access to the percentage of the world's population that reads and writes English. The complete fulfillment of the bright promise brought about by contemporary networking facilities is hindered by language barriers which continue to prevent worldwide communication. By allowing people to participate in global information exchange in their native languages, the UNL will fulfil the promise of the Internet. The UNL was launched by the United Nations University Institute of Advanced Studies (UNU/IAS) and complements its Virtual University initiative.

The UNL may become a powerful instrument to promote networking around the world (thus alleviating the isolation of scholars in developing countries), as well as supporting the development of the "virtual university", which will enhance access to knowledge. For the United Nations and other multilateral organizations, it has enormous potential as a tool to foster dialogue among nations and promote peace, culture, cooperation and development. Launched in 1996, it has already demonstrated both research and development (R&D) vigour and a capacity to motivate. It has already obtained commitments from some of the principal research centres in computer linguistics. Moreover, it has also produced tangible results that are encouraging the further expansion of commitments.

The period for the full development of the UNL project is ten years. The first three years (1996-1998) are devoted to creating the UNL core system and to the conversion modules for over a dozen natural languages, including the six official languages of the United Nations. The UNL Centre is already operational and has begun implementing an experimental software system, in collaboration with research institutes and R&D companies in Brazil, China, Egypt, France, Germany, India, Indonesia, Italy, Japan, Jordan, Mongolia, Portugal, the Russian Federation and Spain. The remaining seven years (1999-2005) will be applied to the development of native language modules for the other United Nations Member States and to improving system performance and quality.

The development of UNL is a joint effort between UNU/IAS and a number of centres of excellence in various languages. The design of the UNL system and its core software is being undertaken at UNU/IAS, where the UNL Centre is located. The Centre coordinates a global network of research institutions and supervises their work so as to ensure quality control and synchronization progress. For that purpose, the UNL Centre provides the partners with the core UNL system software, module specifications and online technical support.

The UNL research network is constituted by 15 research institutes, universities and R&D groups, selected on the basis of their long experience and high reputation in computational linguistics. They are committed to develop a module for their respective native language. In each institution, there is a leader with a team of researchers in computer sciences, in linguistics or computational linguistics. Worldwide, over 100 researchers are currently involved full-time in the development of UNL.

For more information on the UNL project, please visit its home page: http://www.unl.ias.unu.edu/