Lango, originally known as Zlango, was an icon-based "language" (actually a

logographic In a written language, a logogram (from Ancient Greek 'word', and 'that which is drawn or written'), also logograph or lexigraph, is a written character that represents a semantic component of a language, such as a word or morpheme. Chinese c ...

writing system A writing system comprises a set of symbols, called a ''script'', as well as the rules by which the script represents a particular language. The earliest writing appeared during the late 4th millennium BC. Throughout history, each independen ...

) built for web and mobile messaging. Zlango Ltd., the

Israel Israel, officially the State of Israel, is a country in West Asia. It Borders of Israel, shares borders with Lebanon to the north, Syria to the north-east, Jordan to the east, Egypt to the south-west, and the Mediterranean Sea to the west. Isr ...

i company which created and owned Zlango, released a

Java Java is one of the Greater Sunda Islands in Indonesia. It is bordered by the Indian Ocean to the south and the Java Sea (a part of Pacific Ocean) to the north. With a population of 156.9 million people (including Madura) in mid 2024, proje ...

and

Brew Binary Runtime Environment for Wireless (BREW, also known as Brew MP or Qualcomm BREW) is an obsolete application development platform created by Qualcomm, originally for code division multiple access (CDMA) mobile phones, featuring third-party a ...

application for mobile phones that used the Zlango icon language to create a new form of

SMS Short Message Service, commonly abbreviated as SMS, is a text messaging service component of most telephone, Internet and mobile device systems. It uses standardized communication protocols that let mobile phones exchange short text messages, t ...

, called ZMS, using Zlango's icons instead of words.

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

Esperanto Esperanto (, ) is the world's most widely spoken Constructed language, constructed international auxiliary language. Created by L. L. Zamenhof in 1887 to be 'the International Language' (), it is intended to be a universal second language for ...

creator

L. L. Zamenhof L. L. Zamenhof (15 December 185914 April 1917) was the creator of Esperanto, the most widely used constructed language, constructed international auxiliary language. Zamenhof published Esperanto in 1887, although his initial ideas date back as ...

. In February 2007, Zlango Ltd. announced that it raised $12 million from the VCs

Benchmark Benchmark may refer to: Business and economics * Benchmarking, evaluating performance within organizations * Benchmark price * Benchmark (crude oil), oil-specific practices Science and technology * Experimental benchmarking, the act of defining a ...

and Accel. Zlango Ltd. was based in Tel Aviv and had around 40 employees at its peak. The company ceased to operate in 2014.

Lango around the world

Zlango's products were 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

AMC AMC may refer to: Film and television * AMC Theatres, an American movie theater chain * AMC Networks, an American entertainment company ** AMC (TV channel) ** AMC+, streaming service ** AMC Networks International, an entertainment company *** ...

*Caribbean with the operator

LIME Lime most commonly refers to: * Lime (fruit), a green citrus fruit * Lime (material), inorganic materials containing calcium, usually calcium oxide or calcium hydroxide * Lime (color), a color between yellow and green Lime may also refer to: Bo ...

(formerly bmobile - Subsidiary of

Cable & Wireless Communications Cable & Wireless Communications Ltd operating as C&W Communications is a telecommunications company which has operations in the Caribbean and Central America. It is owned by Liberty Latin America and is headquartered in Denver, Colorado, US. ...

) *Hong Kong with the operator SmartTone-Vodafone *Israel with the operators

Pelephone Pelephone (, , lit. "miracle phone") is a mobile network operator in Israel, and also the first company to offer mobile telephony services in Israel. Due to this, the brand-name "Pelephone" became the genericized trademark A generic tradema ...

Orange Orange most often refers to: *Orange (fruit), the fruit of the tree species '' Citrus'' × ''sinensis'' ** Orange blossom, its fragrant flower ** Orange juice *Orange (colour), the color of an orange fruit, occurs between red and yellow in the vi ...

, and Cellcom *Philippines with the operator

Globe A globe is a spherical Earth, spherical Model#Physical model, model of Earth, of some other astronomical object, celestial body, or of the celestial sphere. Globes serve purposes similar to maps, but, unlike maps, they do not distort the surface ...

*Poland with the operators

Play Play most commonly refers to: * Play (activity), an activity done for enjoyment * Play (theatre), a work of drama Play may refer also to: Computers and technology * Google Play, a digital content service * Play Framework, a Java framework * P ...

, and Bauer *Portugal with the operator TMN *Switzerland with the operator

Swisscom Swisscom is a major telecommunications provider in Switzerland. Its headquarters are located in Worblaufen near Bern. The Swiss government owns 51% of Swisscom. According to its own published data, Swisscom holds a market share of 56% for mob ...

*Ukraine with the operator

Kyivstar Kyivstar () is a Ukrainian telecommunications company, providing communication services and data transmission based on a broad range of fixed and mobile technologies, including 4G (LTE) services, in Ukraine. The Kyivstar mobile network covers a ...

Apart from Zlango's website, Zlango also had an

ICQ ICQ was a cross-platform instant messaging (IM) and VoIP client founded in June 1996 by Yair Goldfinger, Sefi Vigiser, Amnon Amir, Arik Vardi, and Arik's father, Yossi Vardi. The name ICQ derives from the English phrase "I Seek You". Originally ...

plug-in in several languages and countries that allowed to use Zlango icons to chat with the contacts. Zlango also appeared in the Israeli Children's Channel as a game show.

The language

Zlango included more than 300 icons in several different categories. The icons are 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 were only suggestions as Zlango encouraged users to invent their own personal meanings for icons. 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 learn of the icon's meaning, it is difficult to forget. Zlango released several Zlango versions of classic stories which showed the potential for more than just picture messaging: *

Little Red Riding Hood "Little Red Riding Hood" () is a fairy tale by Charles Perrault about a young girl and a Big Bad Wolf. Its origins can be traced back to several pre-17th-century European Fable, folk tales. It was later retold in the 19th-century by the Broth ...

Romeo & Juliet ''The Tragedy of Romeo and Juliet'', often shortened to ''Romeo and Juliet'', is a Shakespearean tragedy, tragedy written by William Shakespeare about the romance between two young Italians from feuding families. It was among Shakespeare's ...

Genesis Genesis may refer to: Religion * Book of Genesis, the first book of the biblical scriptures of both Judaism and Christianity, describing the creation of the Earth and of humankind * Genesis creation narrative, the first several chapters of the Bo ...

Adam and Eve Adam and Eve, according to the creation myth of the Abrahamic religions, were the first man and woman. They are central to the belief that humanity is in essence a single family, with everyone descended from a single pair of original ancestors. ...

The Tower of Babel The Tower of Babel is an origin myth and parable in the Book of Genesis (chapter 11) meant to explain the existence of different languages and cultures. According to the story, a united human race speaking a single language migrates to Shinar ...

References

{{Reflist, 2

External links

Zlango's Web SiteZlango's BlogZlango Music Video : Girlfriend Go
Markup languages Mobile applications Logographic writing systems Privately held companies of Israel Software companies of Israel

Background

Lango around the world

The language

See also

References

External links