By Alison at Accredited Language
Posted on Monday, August 29, 2011
Category: Languages, Technology
Internet language diversity can only increase as more people around the world acquire access to the web.The variety of languages spoken by Internet users means that savvy web marketers need to translate and localize their web content to communicate effectively with their audiences.
Internet Languages: Target Audiences
Depending on the target audience and the scope of the website’s
audience, a website might be translated into just one other language.For example, an English-language website geared at US audiences might translate content only into Spanish, while a Canadian website would do well to translate its content into French.
A website targeting European consumers, however, will likely want translations into multiple languages, such as French, German, Italian and Spanish.
Sometimes simply translating website content into another language isn’t enough. For many markets, localization is an essential aspect of website translation, allowing you to reach specific audiences that speak different flavors of the same language.
There are different types of Spanish around the world, for example, and the Portuguese spoken in Brazil versus that spoken in Portugal are not identical.
With this in mind, a look at the top ten languages spoken by web users can help businesses and individuals decide where to focus their website translation efforts.
10. Korean
According to data gathered by Internet World Stats, as of 2010 the tenth most common language among web users is Korean, with 39.4 million users.9. Russian
Next on the list of the most commonly used languages by Internet surfers is Russian, with 59.7 million users.8. French
With 59.8 million users, the French languages is eighth on the list.7. Arabic
Arabic has 65.4 million users, making it the seventh most common language found among Internet users.6. German
The German language claims 76.2 million users on the Internet.5. Portuguese
Portuguese may seem like a bit of a dark horse in the race for the most users of a language on the Internet, but it manages to come in fifth, with a whopping 82.5 million.4. Japanese
Japanese has 99.1 million users on the Internet, just missing out on a top-three spot in the rankings.3. Spanish
Spanish is spoken all over the world, so it’s not a surprise that the language makes it into the top three of this list. There are 153.3 million Spanish speakers on the Internet.2. Chinese
China has the highest population of any single country in the world, so it makes sense that the Chinese language would rank high, with 444.9 million users.1. English
English still retains the number one spot in the most commonly used languages among Internet users, with 536.6 million users, compared to 495.8 million users as of last year’s statistics.Internet Language by Region
Examine user distribution by region, however, and a different picture emerges. According to Internet World Stats, in 2012 Asia had the largest share of Internet users with nearly 4 billion users, representing 44.8% of web users. Europe comes second with 21.5%, followed by North America with 11.4%, Latin America/Caribbean with 10.4%, Africa with 7.0%, the Middle East with 3.7% and Oceania/Australia with 1.0%.Should key Asian markets continue to expand their internet usage, Chinese could be expected to supplant English as the No. 1 used Internet language.
