About 10% of the world's population has access to the Internet but 97% of web sites are designed in English. If you need reference for these statistics let me know but unless we recognize the importance and validity of other languages in cyberspace, we can find ourselves on the receiving end of the global spectrum. If anything, we should encourage research and scholarly contribution in other, lesser known (to the English-speaking world) languages. Jarek Santiago Canyon College Orange, California _________________________________________________________________ On the road to retirement? Check out MSN Life Events for advice on how to get there! http://lifeevents.msn.com/category.aspx?cid=Retirement
I agree with your sentiment, but I think your information is out of date. The percentage of Websites in English is probably in the range of 60-65%, or perhaps even less by now --- still out of proportion to speakers of English, but far less than 97%. Mark
About 10% of the world's population has access to the Internet but 97% of web sites are designed in English. If you need reference for these statistics let me know but unless we recognize the importance and validity of other languages in cyberspace, we can find ourselves on the receiving end of the global spectrum.
If anything, we should encourage research and scholarly contribution in other, lesser known (to the English-speaking world) languages.
Jarek
-- Mark Warschauer Associate Professor, Dept. of Education and Dept. of Informatics University of California, Irvine tel: (949) 824-2526, fax: (949) 824-2965 markw@uci.edu; http://www.gse.uci.edu/markw
I agree with your sentiment, but I think your information is out of date. The percentage of Websites in English is probably in the range of 60-65%, or perhaps even less by now --- still out of proportion to speakers of English, but far less than 97%.
Some statistical work was done for UNESCO here last year that indicates that there is vastly less language diversity on the internet than is routinely claimed. And I'm talking about whole orders of magnitude of difference, here, not just a few percentage points. Don't believe the numbers provided by companies like Jupiter MediaMetrix and Nielsen Netratings. They're garbage, biased heavily toward the goals of the corporations (in the case of Jupiter and its offspring, the sale of "translation services" benefits from the belief that the internet is linguistically diverse..). Sorry that I can't provide a citation just yet; I know that the work I'm referring to is still under revision. --elijah
About 10% of the world's population has access to the Internet but 97% of web sites are designed in English. If you need reference for these statistics let me know but unless we recognize the importance and validity of other languages in cyberspace, we can find ourselves on the receiving end of the global spectrum.
If anything, we should encourage research and scholarly contribution in other, lesser known (to the English-speaking world) languages.
Jarek
Perhaps this is also an interesting aspect of the problem: about two years ago the complete Hungarian Internet (texts only) was downloadable to a single (few GB) hard disc. And there are no essential changes in the last two years. Laszlo
About 10% of the world's population has access to the Internet but 97% of web sites are designed in English. If you need reference for these statistics let me know but unless we recognize the importance and validity of other languages in cyberspace, we can find ourselves on the receiving
If anything, we should encourage research and scholarly contribution in other, lesser known (to the English-speaking world) languages.
Jarek
I agree with Jarek although my two languages (Spanish and English) have wide spread. The situation of Anglicization of the web had made of it a power instrument of de-culturization. Whether you learn English (I do adore Shakespeare language but this has nothing to do regarding this) or you abandon the web. Same case if we view all cultural and socioeconomic "intended" messages in the content, which for obvious is representative of our west-cultural point of view. Power and the web is a must at any discussion... Cristian Berrío Zapata Profesor PUJ - UNAL Facultad de Economía Teléfono (57 3)300 817 9849 cberrioz@cable.net.co CHAT cristianberrioz@hotmail.com -----Mensaje original----- De: air-l-aoir.org-bounces@listserv.aoir.org [mailto:air-l-aoir.org-bounces@listserv.aoir.org] En nombre de J. J. Enviado el: Martes, 05 de Octubre de 2004 10:31 a.m. Para: air-l@listserv.aoir.org Asunto: [Air-l] Hungarian and others About 10% of the world's population has access to the Internet but 97% of web sites are designed in English. If you need reference for these statistics let me know but unless we recognize the importance and validity of other languages in cyberspace, we can find ourselves on the receiving end of the global spectrum. If anything, we should encourage research and scholarly contribution in other, lesser known (to the English-speaking world) languages. Jarek Santiago Canyon College Orange, California _________________________________________________________________ On the road to retirement? Check out MSN Life Events for advice on how to get there! http://lifeevents.msn.com/category.aspx?cid=Retirement _______________________________________________ Air-l-aoir.org mailing list Air-l-aoir.org@listserv.aoir.org http://listserv.aoir.org/listinfo.cgi/air-l-aoir.org
English-language dominance derives from the fact that all of the Internet-related technologies originated in English language countries (I know that the Web was first created at CERN in Geneva, but it was created by an Englishman). What other language would they have been created in? Furthermore, English is the lingua franca (as French and Latin once were) of science, technology, civil aviation, and world business, among other things. "Power instrument of de- culturization"? Come now! The U.S. principally has provided the world with a great technological gift, not without self-interest, to be sure, but a gift nonetheless. With the technological infrastructure more or less provided (although admittedly unevenly distributed), isn't it up to other cultures to put their own face and linguistic stamp on the Internet? What would motivate mainly English-speaking countries to put up websites in Hungarian, Urdu, Swahili, or whatever? The industrial revolution started in England, and the information technology revolution started in the U.S. (with antecedents in England). Such social-economic movements must start somewhere, and it is natural that they use the language of their origins. Would you rather forego such advances in the interests of local language pride? In any case, English as a world language might be in decline, and it might one day become necessary to learn Mandarin, as the following article suggests...Alex Kuskis (first language, Latvian), Wilfrid Laurier University, Ontario, Canada English in Decline as a First Language, Study Says Stefan Lovgren for National Geographic News February 26, 2004 It may be time to brush up on your Mandarin. According to one new study, the percentage of the global population that grew up speaking English as its first language is declining. In addition, an increasing number of people now speak more than one language. In the future, English is likely to be one of those languages, but the Mandarin form of Chinese will probably be the next must-learn language, especially in Asia. The status of English as a global language may peak soon," said David Graddol, managing director of the English Company in Milton Keynes, England, and the author of a new study on the future of language. http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2004/02/0226_040226_language.html#ma... ----- Original Message ----- From: "Cristian Berrío Zapata" <cristianberrioz@hotmail.com> To: <air-l@listserv.aoir.org> Sent: Thursday, October 07, 2004 9:32 AM Subject: RE: [Air-l] Hungarian and others I agree with Jarek although my two languages (Spanish and English) have wide spread. The situation of Anglicization of the web had made of it a power instrument of de-culturization. Whether you learn English (I do adore Shakespeare language but this has nothing to do regarding this) or you abandon the web. Same case if we view all cultural and socioeconomic "intended" messages in the content, which for obvious is representative of our west-cultural point of view. Power and the web is a must at any discussion... Cristian Berrío Zapata Profesor PUJ - UNAL Facultad de Economía Teléfono (57 3)300 817 9849 cberrioz@cable.net.co CHAT cristianberrioz@hotmail.com -----Mensaje original----- De: air-l-aoir.org-bounces@listserv.aoir.org [mailto:air-l-aoir.org-bounces@listserv.aoir.org] En nombre de J. J. Enviado el: Martes, 05 de Octubre de 2004 10:31 a.m. Para: air-l@listserv.aoir.org Asunto: [Air-l] Hungarian and others About 10% of the world's population has access to the Internet but 97% of web sites are designed in English. If you need reference for these statistics let me know but unless we recognize the importance and validity of other languages in cyberspace, we can find ourselves on the receiving end of the global spectrum. If anything, we should encourage research and scholarly contribution in other, lesser known (to the English-speaking world) languages. Jarek Santiago Canyon College Orange, California
And of course those Brazilians are taking over Orkut and the English speakers are talking about the "Crazy Brazilian Invasion." :) Brazil Internet craze angers English speakers Published: July 19, 2004, 6:25 AM PDT By Reuters Print story E-mail story Your take Brazil has butted heads with the United States this year on issues ranging from cotton subsidies to the war in Iraq. But perhaps none of the battles has been so personal as the one being fought on the Internet. Thousands of Brazilians have become devotees of Orkut, a popular new social-networking site from Web search leader Google. Orkut allows members to organize themselves into online communities of friends, and friends of friends, to discuss everything from chess to sandwiches. But the rush of Brazilians to join Orkut and rival social-networking sites has upset some online users, who complain of a proliferation of messages posted in Portuguese, Brazil's native tongue. Some users have even started communities specifically for people to air their gripes on this issue. The United States has at least 153 million Internet users, compared with Brazil's 20 million. Still, Orkut said Brazilians dominated its membership roster in June, outnumbering Americans for the first time. The site says it has more than 769,000 members, making it one of the largest and most popular of its type on the Internet. About 23.5 percent of the users are from the United States, while 41.2 percent are Brazilians. Iranians are a distant third place, at about 6 percent. Orkut, named after Google software engineer Orkut Buyukkokten, made its debut in January and is still in the testing stages. Part of its allure is its exclusivity--one can only join at the invitation of another member. "Orkut maps one's social prestige, and Brazilians are by nature gregarious," said Beth Saad, a professor at the University of Sao Paulo's School of Communications and Arts. Although more than one-fourth of Brazilians live in poverty, those who can afford Internet access have become avid Web surfers. In terms of time spent on the Internet, Brazilians edged out the United States in May for the second month in a row, according to Ibope/NetRatings. The market researcher estimates that Internet use for Brazilians averaged 13 hours and 51 minutes in May, eight minutes more than for Americans. The number of Brazilian visitors to community sites and online diaries rose 14.6 percent to 3.5 million in May from January, Ibope/NetRatings said. Tammy Soldaat, a Canadian, got a sample of Brazilian wrath recently when she posted a message asking whether her community site on body piercing should be exclusive to people who speak English. Brazilian Orkut users quickly labeled her a "nazi" and "xenophobe." "After that, I understood why everyone is complaining about these people, why they're being called the 'plague of Orkut,"' she said in a site called "Crazy Brazilian Invasion." John Gibbs of Mountain View, Calif., has founded a community called "So many Brazilians on Orkut." "When the average Orkut user goes to look at community listings to see what's out there, he'll see a list populated with pretty much all Portuguese communities," Gibbs said. "This is highly frustrating, since Orkut is not a Brazilian service." But Mateus Reis, a publicist who lives in Sao Paulo, said users should be free to write what they want, in the language of their choosing. "Since we can invite anyone we want at Orkut, and my friends are Brazilians, it doesn't make sense talking to them in English," Reis said in Portuguese. "I use the language I know." One of his compatriots, Pablo Miyazawa, has a more moderate view. "Brazilians have the right to create anything they want in any language they want," Miyazawa said. "The problem is to invade forums with specific languages and write in Portuguese. Brazilians are still learning how to behave in the Net." Brazilians' ardor for the Internet extends to other community-based sites, and Web entrepreneurs are catching on to the potential business opportunities. Lisa Kopp, spokeswoman for Orkut competitor Friendster, said Brazilians are "an important group, with millions" of participants among its 7 million users. Meanwhile, Brazilians account for nearly 211,000 of the 453,600 users of Fotolog, which allows people to post a visual diary of their lives. The site is negotiating with Internet providers in Brazil to offer a Portuguese-language version, said Adam Seifer, who founded Fotolog. But Saad, the communications professor at University of Sao Paulo, said some of Brazil's exuberance about Orkut is just another fad. "I think what will happen is what occurred when the Web arrived in Brazil," she said. "There was a huge boom of people creating sites, and now the number of active sites being used by Brazilians is a lot smaller than those registered." -- Karim R. Lakhani MIT Sloan | The Boston Consulting Group Mobile: +1 (617) 851-1224 http://spoudaiospaizen.net http://web.mit.edu/lakhani/www | http://opensource.mit.edu
participants (7)
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Alex Kuskis -
Cristian Berrío Zapata -
elijah wright -
J. J. -
Karim R. Lakhani -
Laszlo Ropolyi -
Mark Warschauer