Local language support for handheld devices

Handheld devices or personal digital assistants (PDAs) are increasingly being used for purposes other than storing personal information. A wide variety of applications are being developed to take advantage of computing power available on PDAs. Also a need is being felt in non-English speaking countries like India to develop applications in local languages. Such applications are expected to be useful in field like education, health and census etc., for data collection and dissemination. It is the purpose of this paper to show how support for local language can be built on low cost PDAs.