Net language gain

With a 23% growth in the number of Internet users in 2006 to 137 million and with 2007 and 2008 set to show even faster growth, the future dominance of Chinese as the web’s number one language appears certain.

A CNNIC (China Internet Network Information Center) survey also revealed that the number of registered CN domain names in China had increased massively to 1,803,393 - representing an increase of 64.4% in just one year. Total domain names in China now amount to 4,109,020. This is an increase of 1.16 million on the previous 6 months, with an average growth of 200 thousand per month. The report results show that at the end of 2006, China had 4.47 billion domestic web pages.

The e-commerce possibilities are huge. Whilst English is presently the predominant language of e-commerce, there is already a significant demand for greater use of Chinese in business transactions. And this demand can only grow as non-English-speaking Chinese Internet users grow.

With such a vast population and its position as the world’s major language already confirmed, it seemed that all China had to do was play catch-up with the technology to be able to also claim its position as the dominant Internet force. This time has arrived.

Now that it has the technical know-how, the Chinese Government is not standing still. Domestic Internet resources are developing fast with particular emphasis given to wireless broadband through 3G mobile technology as well as other forms of broadband. Interestingly, broadband users were a majority of the 137m user figure, at 90.7m users – a 41.1% increase year-on-year. This reveals an excellent growth in broadband access for Chinese users. Mobile devices with Internet access (e.g. smart phones) are being used to access the Internet, and 17 million people with a mobile phone choose to access the Internet that way.

It seems that China may have claimed gold even before the countdown to the summer Olympics in Beijing in 2008 even begins.

Another interesting statistic, however, that also undermines English as the ‘universal’ language is that the language accounting for most blogs on the Internet in 2006 was Japanese with 37% of all blog posts on the net written in this language. English and Chinese rank second and third, at 36% and 8% respectively.

Translating web content into the language of a developing market can succeed in making companies more attractive and more accessible to foreign users. It may not be the case that the entire website requires translation but it is undeniable that a foreign language option or some foreign language pages will widen your audience..

If you are considering localising your website into Chinese and taking advantage of the market opportunity, contact one of Lingo24’s Project Managers to discuss your requirements.