Global internet usage
Encyclopedia
Internet
The Internet is a global system of interconnected computer networks that use the standard Internet protocol suite to serve billions of users worldwide...
by language, nationality, geography, etc.
Languages used on the Internet
Most web pages on the Internet are in EnglishEnglish language
English is a West Germanic language that arose in the Anglo-Saxon kingdoms of England and spread into what was to become south-east Scotland under the influence of the Anglian medieval kingdom of Northumbria...
.
A study on the presence of Romance languages
Romance languages
The Romance languages are a branch of the Indo-European language family, more precisely of the Italic languages subfamily, comprising all the languages that descend from Vulgar Latin, the language of ancient Rome...
on the Internet, published by the Latin Union
Latin Union
The Latin Union is an international organization of nations that use Romance languages, with the aim of protecting, projecting, and promoting the common cultural heritage and unifying identities of the Latin, and Latin-influenced, world. It was created in 1954 in Madrid, Spain, and has existed as a...
in collaboration with FUNREDES
Funredes
FUNREDES is a non-governmental organization based in the Dominican Republic and dedicated to the dissemination of Information and Communication Technologies in the developing countries, especially in Latin America and the Caribbean.It does so in collaboration with international...
, showed that as of November 2007, 45% of the webpages were written in English, 3.8% in Spanish
Spanish language
Spanish , also known as Castilian , is a Romance language in the Ibero-Romance group that evolved from several languages and dialects in central-northern Iberia around the 9th century and gradually spread with the expansion of the Kingdom of Castile into central and southern Iberia during the...
, 4.41% in French
French language
French is a Romance language spoken as a first language in France, the Romandy region in Switzerland, Wallonia and Brussels in Belgium, Monaco, the regions of Quebec and Acadia in Canada, and by various communities elsewhere. Second-language speakers of French are distributed throughout many parts...
, 2.66% in Italian
Italian language
Italian is a Romance language spoken mainly in Europe: Italy, Switzerland, San Marino, Vatican City, by minorities in Malta, Monaco, Croatia, Slovenia, France, Libya, Eritrea, and Somalia, and by immigrant communities in the Americas and Australia...
, 1.39% in Portuguese
Portuguese language
Portuguese is a Romance language that arose in the medieval Kingdom of Galicia, nowadays Galicia and Northern Portugal. The southern part of the Kingdom of Galicia became independent as the County of Portugal in 1095...
, 0.28% in Romanian
Romanian language
Romanian Romanian Romanian (or Daco-Romanian; obsolete spellings Rumanian, Roumanian; self-designation: română, limba română ("the Romanian language") or românește (lit. "in Romanian") is a Romance language spoken by around 24 to 28 million people, primarily in Romania and Moldova...
and 5.9% in German
German language
German is a West Germanic language, related to and classified alongside English and Dutch. With an estimated 90 – 98 million native speakers, German is one of the world's major languages and is the most widely-spoken first language in the European Union....
.. The use of English online has inceased by around 281% over the past ten years, however this is far less than Spanish (743%), Chinese (1,277%), Russian (1,826%) or Arabic (showing a growth of 2,501% over the same period). The foreign language internet
Foreign language internet
The foreign language internet refers to the body of web pages in all languages other than English.- Overview :Traditionally, English has been the ‘lingua franca’ of the internet...
is rapidly expanding, with English being used by only 27% of users worldwide.
Internet users by language
The source of the figures in the table below is Internet World Stats. These are estimates of the world online population by language for 2010.| Position | Language | Internet users | % of all |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | English English language English is a West Germanic language that arose in the Anglo-Saxon kingdoms of England and spread into what was to become south-east Scotland under the influence of the Anglian medieval kingdom of Northumbria... |
536,564,837 | 27.3 |
| 2 | Chinese Chinese language The Chinese language is a language or language family consisting of varieties which are mutually intelligible to varying degrees. Originally the indigenous languages spoken by the Han Chinese in China, it forms one of the branches of Sino-Tibetan family of languages... |
444,948,013 | 22.6 |
| 3 | Spanish Spanish language Spanish , also known as Castilian , is a Romance language in the Ibero-Romance group that evolved from several languages and dialects in central-northern Iberia around the 9th century and gradually spread with the expansion of the Kingdom of Castile into central and southern Iberia during the... |
153,309,074 | 7.8 |
| 4 | Japanese Japanese language is a language spoken by over 130 million people in Japan and in Japanese emigrant communities. It is a member of the Japonic language family, which has a number of proposed relationships with other languages, none of which has gained wide acceptance among historical linguists .Japanese is an... |
99,143,700 | 5.3 |
| 5 | Portuguese Portuguese language Portuguese is a Romance language that arose in the medieval Kingdom of Galicia, nowadays Galicia and Northern Portugal. The southern part of the Kingdom of Galicia became independent as the County of Portugal in 1095... |
82,548,200 | 4.3 |
| 6 | German German language German is a West Germanic language, related to and classified alongside English and Dutch. With an estimated 90 – 98 million native speakers, German is one of the world's major languages and is the most widely-spoken first language in the European Union.... |
75,158,584 | 4.0 |
| 7 | Arabic Arabic language Arabic is a name applied to the descendants of the Classical Arabic language of the 6th century AD, used most prominently in the Quran, the Islamic Holy Book... |
65,365,400 | 3.3 |
| 8 | French French language French is a Romance language spoken as a first language in France, the Romandy region in Switzerland, Wallonia and Brussels in Belgium, Monaco, the regions of Quebec and Acadia in Canada, and by various communities elsewhere. Second-language speakers of French are distributed throughout many parts... |
59,779,525 | 3.2 |
| 9 | Russian Russian language Russian is a Slavic language used primarily in Russia, Belarus, Uzbekistan, Kazakhstan, Tajikistan and Kyrgyzstan. It is an unofficial but widely spoken language in Ukraine, Moldova, Latvia, Turkmenistan and Estonia and, to a lesser extent, the other countries that were once constituent republics... |
59,700,000 | 2.5 |
| 10 | Korean Korean language Korean is the official language of the country Korea, in both South and North. It is also one of the two official languages in the Yanbian Korean Autonomous Prefecture in People's Republic of China. There are about 78 million Korean speakers worldwide. In the 15th century, a national writing... |
39,440,000 | 2.1 |
See also
- List of countries by number of Internet users
- List of countries by number of broadband Internet users
- List of countries by number of Internet hosts
- English in computer science
- Global digital divideGlobal digital divideThe global digital divide is a term used to describe “great disparities in opportunity to access the Internet and the information and educational/business opportunities tied to this access … between developed and developing countries”...
- Rural InternetRural InternetRural Internet is the access to the Internet from rural areas , which are settled places outside towns and cities. Inhabitants live in villages, hamlets, on farms and in other isolated houses...
- Computer recyclingComputer recyclingComputer recycling or electronic recycling is the recycling or reuse of computers or other electronics. It includes both finding another use for materials , and having systems dismantled in a manner that allows for the safe extraction of the constituent materials for reuse in other...
- Computer technology for developing areasComputer technology for developing areasComputer technology for developing areas is the donation of technology to developing areas by individuals and organizations . However, donating technology without first coordinating its use, maintenance and final disposal can lead to misuse and potential problems.-Opportunity:Developing countries...
External links
- Internet World Stats
- European Travel Commission New Media Trend Watch
- Estimation of English and non-English Language Use on the WWW, 2000, web pages, 32 Latin character languages
- World GDP by Language
- Internet Users Map 2005
- CIA - The World Factbook
- Writing the Web’s Future in Many Languages - NYTimes.com
- English translation of the 23rd CNNIC Statistical Survey Report on Internet Usage in China
- List of CNNIC statistical reports
- Measuring Linguistic Diversity on the Internet, UNESCO (2006)
- Twelve years of measuring linguistic diversity in the Internet, UNESCO (2009)
- Language Observatory, Japan Science and Technology Agency
- FUNREDES Observatory of linguistic and cultural diversity on the Internet