The web began as an English place. To some the idea was that national, natural and cultural
boundaries were irrelevant. The web created a situation were everyone could communicate – if they did so in English. This is changing – fast.
The growth of alternative languages is not the story of esperanto but rather, as connectivity improves, the web begins to reflect something other than the countries who were first online in large numbers.
Measured by blogs – which are argumentatively the largest form of personal online mass communication and using one of the largests tracking services these results have been presented (Sifry’s Alerts – the state of the blogosphere with more data and also caveats about collection and validity).
English is no longer the largest language. Technorati now has more Japanese posts than English. In March 2006
37% of posts are Japanese
31% of posts are English
15% of posts are Chinese
And China is just beginning.
OK – so this is not about trying to find the first nail in the coffin of the English language but it is very interesting to see the changes which are taking place. The natural position of power held by the English language is no longer a given.