While Europe and North America are still dealing with the financial crisis, almost everywhere else in the world the middle-class segment is growing. More middle-class households means more access to computers and mobile devices connected to the web. The more consumers of online information, the bigger the importance and value of translation and localization.
Which languages are most present on the web right now? And which languages are most interesting for you to add to your company repertoire? In this month’s MultiLingual magazine we read that if you want to reach 80% of the world’s total online population, you need at least 12 languages. However, to address 90% of global online economic opportunity you need at least 13 languages. Please consult the table below to see which languages you should focus on. We at Textcase are eager to help out and are looking forward to receiving your inquiry.
| Online population | Global online economic opportunity | ||||
| 1 | Chinese | 22.7% | 1 | English | 36.3% |
| 2 | English | 21.6% | 2 | Japanese | 10.5% |
| 3 | Spanish | 9% | 3 | German | 8.4% |
| 4 | Japanese | 4.5% | 4 | Spanish | 7.8% |
| 5 | Portuguese | 3.7% | 5 | French | 6.2% |
| 6 | Arabic | 3.6% | 6 | Chinese | 6.1% |
| 7 | German | 3.5% | 7 | Italian | 3% |
| 8 | Russian | 3.3% | 8 | Portuguese | 2.5% |
| 9 | French | 3.1% | 9 | Dutch | 2.3% |
| 10 | Indonesian | 1.9% | 10 | Korean | 2.2% |
| 11 | Korean | 1.8% | 11 | Arabic | 2% |
| 12 | Italian | 1.6% | 12 | Russian | 2% |
| 13 | Swedish | 1.2% | |||