Zlango
Encyclopedia
Zlango is an icon-based "language" (actually a logographic writing system
) built for web and mobile messaging. Zlango Ltd., the Israeli company which created and owns Zlango, has released a Java
and Brew
application for mobile phones which uses the Zlango icon language to create a new form of SMS
, called ZMS, using Zlango's icons instead of words . Online, Zlango is available for composing messages and then sharing them in e-mail, publishing them on the Zlango site, embedding them in blogs, spaces, sites, and more .
Zlango's mobile application was released in the following territories:
Apart from Zlango's website, Zlango also has an ICQ
plug-in in several languages and countries that allows you to use Zlango icons to chat with your contacts .
Zlango also appeared in the Israeli Children's Channel as a game show .
creator L. L. Zamenhof
. On February 2007, Zlango Ltd. announced that it raised $12 million from the VCs Benchmark
and Accel . Zlango Ltd.'s Tel Aviv offices currently include around 40 employees.
The Zlango web page includes several new icons that are not in the mobile application such as "basketball" and "gold".
According to Zlango Ltd., the Zlango icons were created to be memorable, rather than recognizable. For example, the "want" icon is a bird in a nest, but once you find the icon's meaning, it is difficult to forget .
Zlango has released several Zlango versions of classic stories which show the potential for more than just picture messaging:
Also, being an icon-based language with, relatively easy-to-understand images, Zlango allows people who speak different languages to communicate.
Writing system
A writing system is a symbolic system used to represent elements or statements expressible in language.-General properties:Writing systems are distinguished from other possible symbolic communication systems in that the reader must usually understand something of the associated spoken language to...
) built for web and mobile messaging. Zlango Ltd., the Israeli company which created and owns Zlango, has released a Java
Java (programming language)
Java is a programming language originally developed by James Gosling at Sun Microsystems and released in 1995 as a core component of Sun Microsystems' Java platform. The language derives much of its syntax from C and C++ but has a simpler object model and fewer low-level facilities...
and Brew
Binary Runtime Environment for Wireless
Brew is an application development platform created by Qualcomm, originally for CDMA mobile phones, featuring third party applications such as mobile games. It is offered in some feature phones but not in smart phones...
application for mobile phones which uses the Zlango icon language to create a new form of SMS
Short message service
Short Message Service is a text messaging service component of phone, web, or mobile communication systems, using standardized communications protocols that allow the exchange of short text messages between fixed line or mobile phone devices...
, called ZMS, using Zlango's icons instead of words . Online, Zlango is available for composing messages and then sharing them in e-mail, publishing them on the Zlango site, embedding them in blogs, spaces, sites, and more .
Zlango around the world
Zlango's products are currently released in many countries, as well as over the Web in many forms.Zlango's mobile application was released in the following territories:
- Albania with the operator AMCAlbanian Mobile CommunicationsAMC is a Telecommunications company in Albania. It is a member of Cosmote Group since 2000, launched commercial operations in 1996, being the first mobile telecommunications company to operate in Albania...
- Caribbean with the operator LIMELIME (Cable & Wireless)LIME, an acronym for 'Landline, Internet, Mobile, Entertainment', is a communications provider owned by the British based Cable & Wireless Communications plc operating in Anguilla, Antigua & Barbuda, Barbados, British Virgin Islands, Cayman Islands, Dominica, Grenada, Jamaica, Montserrat, St. Kitts...
(formerly bmobile - Subsidiary of Cable & Wireless CommunicationsCable & Wireless CommunicationsCable & Wireless plc demerged in 2010 into Cable & Wireless Communications and Cable & Wireless Worldwide. For the other former C&W plc business, see Cable & Wireless Worldwide...
) - Hong Kong with the operator SmartTone-Vodafone
- Israel with the operators PelephonePelephonePelephone is an Israeli-based telecommunications company, founded in 1986 as a joint venture between Motorola and Tadiran, today owned by Bezeq. It was the first company to offer mobile phone services in Israel. Due to this, the brand-name "Pelephone" became the genericized trademark for mobile...
, Orange, and Cellcom - Philippines with the operator GlobeGlobe TelecomGlobe Telecom , commonly known as Globe, is a telecommunications company in the Philippines. Globe provides mobile, fixed line, and broadband Internet services.- History :In 1928, Congress passed Act No...
- Poland with the operators PlayPlay MobilePlay, P4 is a brand name of the fourth Polish cellular telecommunications provider.Icelandic-led Novator acquired a large stake in the company.- Network :...
, and Bauer - Portugal with the operator TMNTelecomunicações Móveis NacionaisTMN – Telecomunicações Móveis Nacionais, S.A., headquartered in Lisbon, is Portugal's first mobile communications company, both chronologically and in market share.-Chronology:1991...
- Switzerland with the operator SwisscomSwisscomSwisscom AG is a major telecommunications provider in Switzerland. Along with Swiss Post, it is a successor company to the former state-owned PTT. Its headquarters are located at Worblaufen near Bern...
- Ukraine with the operator KyivstarKyivstarKyivstar is the largest mobile phone operator in Ukraine, serving 24,944,592 subscribers as of October 2010. Kyivstar's wireless network operates using the GSM standard and provides coverage accessible by approximately 99% of the Ukrainian population....
Apart from Zlango's website, Zlango also has an ICQ
ICQ
ICQ is an instant messaging computer program, which was first developed and popularized by the Israeli company Mirabilis, then bought by America Online, and since April 2010 owned by Mail.ru Group. The name ICQ is a homophone for the phrase "I seek you"...
plug-in in several languages and countries that allows you to use Zlango icons to chat with your contacts .
Zlango also appeared in the Israeli Children's Channel as a game show .
Background
Zlango was created in 2004 by Yoav Lorch, an author and playwright, as an attempt to shorten text messages. When he found that abbreviated texts only removed 20% of letters, he decided to enter the field of pictographic language. The name Zlango is a combination of lingo, slang, and language, with the letter Z as homage to EsperantoEsperanto
is the most widely spoken constructed international auxiliary language. Its name derives from Doktoro Esperanto , the pseudonym under which L. L. Zamenhof published the first book detailing Esperanto, the Unua Libro, in 1887...
creator L. L. Zamenhof
L. L. Zamenhof
Ludwig Lazarus Zamenhof December 15, 1859 – April 14, 1917) was the inventor of Esperanto, the most successful constructed language designed for international communication.-Cultural background:...
. On February 2007, Zlango Ltd. announced that it raised $12 million from the VCs Benchmark
Benchmark Capital
Benchmark Capital is a venture capital firm responsible for the early stage funding of some very successful startups. In 1997, the firm invested $6.7 million in eBay, which became worth more than $5 billion by the spring of 1999. Other high-profile investments include Ariba, Juniper Networks, Red...
and Accel . Zlango Ltd.'s Tel Aviv offices currently include around 40 employees.
The language
Zlango currently includes more than 300 icons in several different categories, but according to Zlango representatives, Zlango will eventually include the option for users to add their own icons, and that unused icons will be cycled out. . Zlango icons are also not definitive, and most icons have multiple meanings: for example, the icon for "me" can also mean "I", the icon for "go" can also mean "come", and the icon for "car" can also mean "drive". The meanings that Zlango intended for each icon are only suggestions as Zlango encourages users to invent their own personal meanings for icons.The Zlango web page includes several new icons that are not in the mobile application such as "basketball" and "gold".
According to Zlango Ltd., the Zlango icons were created to be memorable, rather than recognizable. For example, the "want" icon is a bird in a nest, but once you find the icon's meaning, it is difficult to forget .
Zlango has released several Zlango versions of classic stories which show the potential for more than just picture messaging:
- Little Red Riding Hood
- Romeo & Juliet
- Genesis
- Adam and EveAdam and EveAdam and Eve were, according to the Genesis creation narratives, the first human couple to inhabit Earth, created by YHWH, the God of the ancient Hebrews...
- The Tower of Babel
Also, being an icon-based language with, relatively easy-to-understand images, Zlango allows people who speak different languages to communicate.
See also
- BlissymbolsBlissymbolsBlissymbols or Blissymbolics was conceived as an ideographic writing system called Semantography consisting of several hundred basic symbols, each representing a concept, which can be composed together to generate new symbols that represent new concepts...
- Isotype
- Characteristica universalisCharacteristica universalisThe Latin term characteristica universalis, commonly interpreted as universal characteristic, or universal character in English, is a universal and formal language imagined by the German philosopher Gottfried Leibniz able to express mathematical, scientific, and metaphysical concepts...