Languages Most Used On the Web vs. IRL

Global connectivity is not only a question of technology but also of language barriers. A strong WiFi connection is worth nothing if the World Wide Web hardly provides any content in languages you are familiar with. Mashable has published an infographic by Statista that shows just how heavily the net is dominated by the English language – and how wide the difference to real life is.

With almost 55 percent of the top 10 million sites on the web in English, one language dominates with a vast majority. Although in real life Chinese has by far the most first language speakers, it does not dominate that clearly. There is rather a whole bunch of languages like Hindi, Arabic or Bengali. Together the three are the first language for more than half a billion people but are summed up among the 11.4 percent of “other” languages on the web.

The lack of language diversity on the web is not only a barrier to access but is also contributing to a worldwide death of languages, as stated by some activists and scientists.