Is English a World Language?

   English is the predominant language on the Internet and has gained some type of global business status. However, English is not the native language that most people in the world speak. There are three times as many native speakers of Chinese as native speakers of English. According to Wallraff (2000), "about 1,113 million people speak Chinese as their mother tongue, whereas about 372 million speak English". Many people using English on the Internet are second-language or foreign-language speakers, and although many people claim to speak English, there is a question about how well they actually know and understand the language. Often, people who speak English speak another language at least as well, if not better.

   The Internet has been cited as an instrument for circulating English around the world; it is estimated that 80 percent of the information available on the Internet is written in English. However, as more non-English speakers gain access to the network, the use of other languages is growing. Spanish, Chinese, German, Portuguese, and many other languages are now thriving on the Web. As a result, search engines, such as Yahoo'., Excite, and Google are now offering their services in multiple languages. For example, Google (2000) says it offers the largest collection of Asian-language Web pages on the Internet. It has approximately 40 million Japanese Web pages, 24 million Chinese pages, and 10 million Korean pages. Google also supports Danish, Dutch, Finnish, French, German, Italian, Norwegian, Portuguese, Spanish, and Swedish.

   Another factor influencing a shift away from using English as the dominant language for Internet communication is the development of translation programs. Translation programs, such as Alta Vista's Babel Fish, are available on the Internet. Information written in English can be cut and pasted into Babel Fish to be translated into a different language, or text written in French, Portuguese, Spanish, Italian, German, or Russian can be translated into English.

   The introduction of a variety of languages to the Internet has led to predictions that the Web may soon resemble international television, where audiences expect to view sites in their own language. As the Web becomes more of a mass medium, its audience is changing. Originally, Internet users were highly educated and from English-speaking or multilingual upper-middle-class families. As a diversity of people are becoming connected to the network, more sites are using languages other than English because people prefer sites in their own language. For instance, language has been a deterrent to Internet growth in China because many Chinese are not adept at writing English. Consequently, the Chinese want to develop their own, indigenous Internet culture with Chinese-language sites.

   In sum, the globalization of English does not mean that eventually everyone will be able to converse in English. Computers may help with basic translation problems, but people will still need to be able to cope with understanding other languages. Moreover, the introduction of a variety of languages on the Internet could end America's hegemony over Internet culture. Instead of becoming a homogeneous English-speaking mass media system, the Internet could become a series of glocal villages that use different languages. Consequently, native English speakers will still need to learn other languages.