[Air-l] Language on the Internet (was AoIR in Latin-America)

[joshua raclaw]

Alex,

Technically speaking, English is a minority.  I don't think you can argue with
Geert's assertion that (relatively speaking) the use of English online is
shrinking exponentially.  It's a much more multilingual arena than it was even
a few years ago (and certainly the 'multilingual internet' is getting much
more scholarly attention as of late because of this).

Also, please don't misinterpret the statistic that 1.5 billion people speak
English by thinking that these are monolingual and/or native speakers!  Just
because a speaker knows English doesn't mean they're going to use it in every
context, and this applies both online and off.

Joshua



Joshua Raclaw - PhD student
Department of Linguistics
University of Colorado at Boulder



Quoting Alex Kuskis <alex.kuskis at netscape.ca>:

* Geert,
* I think that's wishful thinking on your part. Global language usage
* is a function of political, economic, technological and cultural
* power. The English-speaking world (including ESL) has that in
* spades and shows no signs of giving it up, despite the rise of
* China (where they're studying English like crazy). The following
* is an extract from a Toronto Globe & Mail article no longer acessible
* without paying a fee. Noting the claim that English will add its
* millionth word sometime this year -
*
* David Crystal, a world authority on English, said any attempt to count the
* number of English words is futile, but he agreed that English has achieved
* international dominance and is growing faster than any other language.
* The reason, he said, is power.
* "That's the only reason languages spread: because of the power of the people
* who speak them," Prof. Crystal, editor of the Cambridge Encyclopedia of the
* English Language, said from North Wales.
* "Every significant cultural innovation of modern times - from the invention
* of the radio, to the Internet, to air traffic control - began in an
* English-speaking country or was immediately facilitated by an
* English-speaking country. It really is amazing."
* Today, an estimated 1.5 billion people speak English. A British study
* predicts the number of people studying the language will reach two billion
* within a decade. About 250 million people are now studying it in China
* alone. English has become the language of business and diplomacy, technology
* and popular culture, science and academic conferences.
* "Never has there been a language spoken by so many people as English," Prof.
* Crystal said.
*
http://www.theglobeandmail.com/servlet/story/RTGAM.20060211.wxenglish0211/BNSto
ry/National/home
*
* Furthermore, you might want to look at the following UNESCO
* report on measuring Linguistic Diversity on the Internet:
* http://portal.unesco.org/ci/en/ev.php-
URL_ID=20804&URL_DO=DO_TOPIC&URL_SECTION=201.html
*
* "Hundreds of local languages may be sidelined in the drive to bridge
* the digital divide because of technological oversight and political
* inertia, according to a new UNESCO publication entitled "Measuring
* Linguistic Diversity on the Internet".
*
* UNESCO is calling for new ways to monitor information societies which go
* beyond a techno-centric view to consider the social impact of the Internet.
*
* According to the new publication that was prepared under the auspices of
* the UNESCO Institute for Statistics, there are no accurate figures
* concerning language use on the Internet. For example, there have been
* claims that diversity is increasing because of soaring numbers of
* non-native English speakers (mostly Chinese). Indeed, it has been
* estimated only 36% of actual Internet users are anglophone.
*
* However, this is an estimate based upon other estimates produced largely
* by a marketing company. "Absent from the data is any kind of actual
* survey of Internet users," says the UIS publication. There is no
* indication of the language these people actually speak or use on the
* Internet."
* -----------------------------------------------------------------------------
-
* The question of language usage on the Internet is complex and your
* dismissal of English language dominance is not supportable at this
* time (which is not to say that other major languages shouldn't be
* accommodated by the academic world)........Alex Kuskis
*
* ----- Original Message -----
* From: "geert lovink" <geert at desk.nl>
* To: <air-l at listserv.aoir.org>
* Sent: Monday, March 20, 2006 4:49 AM
* Subject: Re: [Air-l] AoIR in Latin-America
*
*
* > No worries! People who speak in English are a minority in this world.
* > The content in English on the Net is shrinking (relatively speaking)
* > and so are the users for whom English is their first language. I guess
* > it is time for Internet researchers to wake up to this new reality.
* > Please read the basic statistics. We're spinning off those who speak
* > English. It's not the other way round... Those who write in English are
* > in the minority, big way. Let's not portray it otherwise.
* >
* > Geert
* >
* > On 20 Mar 2006, at 3:44 AM, Nathaniel Poor wrote:
* >
* >> I was thinking: "If we spin off the people who don't speak English....
* >> who may not even be on the list in the first place... then we will
* >> have a more restricted view of the Internet..."
* ..............................[snip].........................................
*
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