Chinese could replace English as number one internet language

English is currently the most widely used language on the Internet. But its era of dominance there could be coming to an end, as Chinese is set to take over the Web world, according to multiple tabloid reports.

Era of English dominance to end soon?
A infographic chart created by NextWeb based on information from Internet World Stats has suggested that although the web was founded using English but now the dominant language of the internet is about to become Chinese, reports FOX News.

The Next Web chart circulating all over the internet highlights the staggering growth of Chinese usage on the web, suggesting that Chinese may be the dominant language on the internet within five years.

The Next Web chart circulating all over the internet highlights the staggering growth of Chinese usage on the web, suggesting that Chinese may be the dominant language on the internet within five years.

Growing prominence of online Chinese users
In the chart, English not surprisingly is at number one spot on ‘the top ten languages on the internet’ list, with 42 percent or 536 million English speaking users online, but Chinese is not far behind.

According to the website, China gained an additional 36 million Internet users last year taking the country to a total of 32.6 percent or 444 million users over all, followed far behind by Spanish with 153 million users, citing figures from Internet World Stats.

Cultural significance of English can not be taken over
Contributing editor Greg Sterling of Search Engine Land, however, is not agreed with the conception that English would lose its dominance on the world wide web within five years, reports FOX News.

"Chinese will never replace English as the 'official' language of the Internet," Sterling told Fox. "This is clearly based on raw numbers and the size of China's Internet population," he said,

"That's because the world speaks English while few other than Chinese nationals speak Chinese," he added.

Censorship may prevent Chinese to dominate web
While the Next Web believes if China's growth rates stay consistent Chinese could become the dominant language on the Internet in less than five years, but Sterling contends that still there’s a key factor that will prevent Chinese from domination the World Wide Web, and that is censorship.

"The censored and still-closed nature of the Chinese Internet further argues against Chinese taking over the virtual world," he told Fox News.