The group that manages the Internet address system said Thursday that it has given preliminary approval to four countries to, for the first time, write Internet addresses entirely in their native languages. The Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers said Egypt, the Russian Federation, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates have passed the language character evaluation, which is aimed at ensuring there is no confusion with other Internet top-level domains.

The move means users are one step away from being able to type Internet addresses in Cyrillic for Russia and Arabic for Egypt, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates. The countries must now request the suffixes from ICANN, such as "Egypt" in Arabic, and gain approval from the group's board before users can begin using the Internet addresses in their native languages.

"These international names will now allow people to type entire domain names in their own language," ICANN CEO and President Rod Beckstrom said in a statement. "This marks a pivotal moment in the history of Internet domain names." The issue has been a top priority for ICANN. The group notes in a paper on the issue that "60 percent of Internet users are non-English speakers, while the dominant language used on the Internet is English." The group said 12 other requests for internationalized domains are pending.