As a native English speaker I've always been intrigued about a whole side of the Net that remains alien to me. Despite the fact that I spend many hours online and am constantly coming across new and exciting websites, the majority of these tend to be written in English and are therefore easy to understand.
However, whenever I stumble upon a website written in a foreign language I can't help but wonder what topics they're covering. Obviously there are some global issues that we're all aware of, but what about the pressing local concerns felt by different cultures?
The reason I've been wondering about this is that a new study conducted by Global Reach indicates that non-English speakers now outnumber native English speakers in terms of online users. According to the study findings, around 59.8 percent of the total world online population come from non-English speaking zones.
English speakers still account for 40.2 percent of all Internet users, however the number of Chinese speakers online has increased by 1 percent to reach a total of 9.8 percent, while the number of Japanese speakers has increased by 0.3 percent to reach 9.2 percent.
That such a high proportion of Internet users primarily use another language other than English is proof that the Net has truly become global. It also indicates that while English has often been seen to be the Internet's official language, it's now losing its dominance, as more people from other language zones get online.
This is a far cry from the early days of the Internet when English ruled the roost. Chances were that if you didn't have a basic understanding of English back then, then the Internet was not for you. The number of localised sites available for non-English speakers was minimal and it seemed as though the Net might well develop into a virtual Tower of Babel in which non-English speakers were excluded.
In recent years though, the growing availability of localised content has been a key factor in encouraging non-English speakers to get online. Moreover, localised content has helped ensure that 'minor' languages not only survive, but thrive online.
While native-English speakers may not be able to understand much of the content covered on these sites, it's exciting to imagine a whole range of thoughts and topics given life on the Net.
However, while this is all very encouraging for those who favour diversity, it's worth noting that the vast majority of webpages continue to be written in English. According to a study conducted by Vilaweb.com in 2000, 68.3 percent of webpages were written in English, while Japanese, the then second most popular Net language accounted for just 5.85 percent.
While the number of webpages written in English is likely to fall over the next few years, the decline is not expected to come from large multinational companies who want to trade with other countries but don't seem to want to make an effort.
Despite the growing globalisation of the Net, most big multinationals fail when it comes to dealing with languages other than English. A report from APCO in April confirmed this when it found that over half of the world's biggest companies corporate websites were only available in English. An earlier study conducted by Worldlingo meanwhile, found that fewer than five percent of the 50 most visited Internet sites bothered to respond to foreign language email requests.
If companies do seriously want to compete effectively in a global setting, then it seems obvious that they need to open up to the idea of adopting multicultural, multilingual sites that will serve all Internet users. Otherwise they may find that non-English speaking users decide to shop elsewhere.
