Abstract
The content of the Internet is predominantly in English, as it was invented in the US. Of the 6800 languages of the world, only a few are represented on the Internet.1 Since the Internet developed as a project of the US Defense Department, it learned to communicate only in English. Available data on web pages show the dominance of English. In the late 1990s, 82 per cent of the web pages were in English, with German as its nearest rival, at 4 per cent.2 By the early 2000s, 68 per cent of the web pages were in English, with Japanese and German at 5.85 per cent and 5.77 per cent respectively.3 To have content in other languages, the Internet architecture needs to be modified and content needs to be produced. But the Internet architecture is designed in such a way that multilingualization of the Internet at the national level depends on the acceptance of multilingual character at the root of the Internet. The states in the global south consider having the Internet in their own languages as a matter of national identity.
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Notes
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© 2014 Abu Bhuiyan
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Bhuiyan, A. (2014). Multilingualism: Does It Legitimize the ICANN Model?. In: Internet Governance and the Global South. Palgrave Global Media Policy and Business. Palgrave Macmillan, London. https://doi.org/10.1057/9781137344342_6
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1057/9781137344342_6
Publisher Name: Palgrave Macmillan, London
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