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World Language Statistical
Facts
"There are approximately 172 million English
speakers and 163 million non-English speakers online" (Global
Reach)
"50.4% of Web Users speak a native language other than English"
(Global Reach)
"Web users are up to four times more likely to purchase from
a site that communicates in the customer's language" (www.idc.com)
"Site stickiness is doubled when a web site is translated -
visitors stay for twice as long" (Forrester Research)
"Almost one-third of web sites are presented in a language
other than English" (Messaging Online)
"37 million Americans do not speak English at home" (US
Department of Health)
"Over 100 million people access the Internet in a language
other than English" (Global Reach)
"By 2004, 50% of all-online sales are expected to occur outside
the US" (Forrester Research)
The World
Messaging Online finds that there are now, for
the first time ever, more email accounts outside the US than within
it. The total number of electronic mailboxes in the world at the
end of last year (2000) was a staggering 891.1 million, up 67 percent
from 1999. Over 451 million of the total for 2000 were outside the
US.
Global Reach has found that 43% of web users do
not speak English at all.
Jupiter Media Metrix reveals that Europe alone will account for
over 50% of the world's Internet users by the end of this year (2003).
91% of Fortune 500 and Forbes international 800
companies cannot respond correctly to a foreign language email (The
WorldLingo Quarterly Email Survey - April 2003).
German
According to GfK, there are currently 15.9 million
people online in Germany. The number of Internet users increased
by more than 50 percent over the last six months. (Feb. 2002)
Datamonitor reports, consumer spending at German
sites reached USD 350 million (1999) and is expected to reach USD1.3
billion by 2001 and USD 1.9 billion by 2002.
French
France will represent the third-largest Internet
economy in Europe. More than 9 million new Internet users went online
in the UK, Germany, and France, according to a survey published
by the NOP Research Group. The French market is showing the fastest
growth rates of adoption, with 47 percent market growth in the last
year.
Italian
According to Between ICT Brokers, there are 10
million people online in Italy. (Apr. 2000)
Portuguese and Spanish
Consumer electronic commerce will see explosive
growth in Latin America, Gartner predicts. Competitors need to prepare
now for this e-commerce tidal wave, and one aspect of market readiness
is developing offerings in the local languages. Gartner research
states that "Content in native languages will increase in importance
as Internet use penetrates deeper into the lower-tier socioeconomic
groups in Latin America".
Russian
Monitoring.ru Agency reports that there are 5.4
million adults over the age of 18 using the Russian Internet. For
more information on Russian Internet use go to http://www.monitoring.ru/Internet/digest.html.
Japanese
There are now 19.4 million Japanese using the Internet,
according to a new report from Access Media International. This
figure represents a 128.8 percent increase on last year's figure.
There are now over 20 percent of Japanese homes online.
E-commerce is set to explode in Japan, from about
$4 billion in 1999 to $693 billion in 2003, according to a recent
report from Andersen Consulting and Japan's Ministry of International
Trade and Industry (MITI). The study reports that business-to-business
(B2B) e-commerce in Japan skyrocketed to $3.2 billion in 1999, a
420 percent increase from the previous year's $610 million. MITI
and Andersen Consulting expect this expansion to continue until
B2B e-commerce reaches $651 billion in 2003.
Korean
The Korean Herald reports, a survey conducted by
private research firm "Research and Research" last October
showed that the number of Internet users has reached 9.43 million
in Korea (Jan. 2000).
Chinese
The eAsia report found that China's active Internet
user base will grow from 2.5 million in 1999, to 21 million by 2003,
an increase of 750 percent. China and India will outpace Japan in
Internet growth in the near future, according to a report by eMarketer.
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