The latest developments in the field of machine translation are closely connected with the spread of globalization and the growing hegemony of English, and it is imperative that we begin to consider their effect on the way we use and conceptualize language. The author offers some promising examples of practical critiques that produce alternative visions, such as Warren Sack and Sawad Brooks’s Internet-based Translation Map, and then moves on to consider the impact of new technology on promoting as well as adapting English (or various electronic Englishes) in cyberspace, and the various, complex environments in which the tension between global and local languages is played out. Beyond English as such, the author argues that computer-mediated communication impacts our use of language in general, resulting in a minimalist code based on abbreviation, minimalism of expression, taxonomic units of information, and simplified syntax. It is this minimalism and the insistence on a basic form of legibility that must be critically assessed and resisted.