The internet is becoming the town square for the global village of tomorrow. — Bill Gates.

互联网正在成为明天的全球村庄的城镇广场。 - 比尔盖茨。

The language of the internet has shifted from predominantly English to multilingual. But the internet seemingly reinforces a few main languages, putting the majority of others at risk of exclusion. Chinese Mandarin is quickly becoming one of the dominant languages of the internet at the expense of others.

互联网的语言已经从主要的英语变为多语言。 但是互联网似乎强化了几种主要语言，使其他大多数语言都有被排斥的风险。 中文普通话正在Swift成为互联网上占主导地位的语言之一，而其他语言则为此付出了代价。

If as Bill Gates says, the internet is a town square, then you need to learn Mandarin in order to have a voice in the digital village of the future.

如果像比尔·盖茨(Bill Gates)所说的那样，互联网是一个城市广场，那么您需要学习汉语，才能在未来的数字村庄中发声。

互联网的多种语言正在收缩 (The Internet’s Multilinguism is Contracting)

There are 8 billion people, 195 countries, and over 6,500 languages spoken on the planet. Of the 8 billion, nearly half the people on the planet don’t have regular internet access. And a significant portion of these individuals without access reside in the least developed countries.

这个星球上有80亿人，195个国家/地区和6500多种语言使用。 在这80亿人口中，地球上将近一半的人无法正常上网。 这些人中有很大一部分无法进入，居住在最不发达国家 。

Given these stats, it’s fascinating to see the distribution of global languages on the internet.

有了这些统计数据，就可以在互联网上看到全球语言的分布，这很令人着迷。

There are 10 languages that represent 75% of all web traffic. English and Mandarin are neck and neck as the most common languages with the most web traffic. Nearly 50% of global traffic.

有10种语言代表了所有网络流量的75％。 英语和普通话是网络流量最多的最常用语言 。 全球流量的近50％。

The primary English speaking nations (US and UK) have a combined population of about 400 million well below China’s 1.2 billion people. Of the Chinese population, 480 million are not online yet.

讲英语的主要国家(美国和英国)的总人口约为4亿，远低于中国的12亿人口。 在中国人口中，有4.8亿尚未上网。

Put plainly, populations that represent 15% of the global population see their local languages dominate 50% of web traffic.

简而言之，代表全球人口15％的人口看到其本地语言占网络流量的50％。

Based on these data points, it appears that the internet is leading to a contraction of the languages in use.

基于这些数据点，看来互联网正在导致使用语言的收缩。

为什么Internet的语言选择正在收缩 (Why The Internet’s Language Options are Contracting)

Why do English and Chinese dominate as the language of the internet when there are so many other languages?

当有太多其他语言时，为什么英语和中文占主导地位？

Because in the 20-year span of 2000 to 2020, the US, China and other more developed nations have experienced significant internet user growth. Unlike less developed locations, these languages have experienced a first-mover and early adoption advantage allowing them to dominate 75% of global web traffic.

因为在2000年至2020年的20年间，美国，中国和其他较发达的国家经历了互联网用户的显着增长。 与欠发达的地区不同，这些语言具有先行者和早期采用者的优势，从而使它们可以控制全球Web流量的75％。

With this early advantage, a lot of useful content has been developed and added to the global network in these languages.

利用这种早期优势，已经开发了许多有用的内容，并以这些语言将其添加到了全球网络中。

As new and often poorly developed nations gain access to the internet, they are forced to choose between building useful content from scratch or opting for a dominant language with well-established content and network effects.

随着新兴的国家(通常是欠发达的国家)能够访问互联网，它们被迫在从零开始构建有用内容或选择具有公认的内容和网络效应的主流语言之间进行选择。

Late adopters are left to adapt to pre-existing technology and their pre-established use cases.

后来的使用者只能适应现有的技术及其预先建立的用例。

“The famous engine [Google] that recognises 30 European languages recognises only one African language and no indigenous American or Pacific languages.” Daniel Prado

“可以识别30种欧洲语言的著名引擎[Google]仅识别一种非洲语言，而不能识别美洲或太平洋土著语言。” 丹尼尔·普拉多(Daniel Prado)

Wikipedia is just one site, but even this small pool suggests the universe of information on the internet looks very different from one language to the next.

Wikipedia只是一个站点，但即使是很小的一个池，也暗示着Internet上信息的范围从一种语言到另一种语言都非常不同。

The Digital Language Divide

数字语言鸿沟

Because language is often so intertwined with culture, the contracting of available languages online raises a question of equity on the internet. Ie: If languages are not represented equally on webpages does that mean that cultural representation on the web also contracts?

由于语言通常与文化交织在一起，在线上可用语言的签约提出了互联网公平性的问题。 即：如果语言在网页上的表示方式不同，这是否意味着网络上的文化表示方式也会收缩？

This may indicate that its likely new users coming online have to choose an alternative language to navigate the web and subsequently assimilate into that global culture.

这可能表明其可能在线上的新用户必须选择一种替代语言来浏览网络，并随后吸收这种全球文化。

中国的地缘政治战略扩大了语言收缩并创造了范式转变 (Chinese Geopolitical Strategy Amplifies Language Contraction & Creates A Paradigm Shift)

China’s ongoing investments in Africa creates an interesting potential shift in the language makeup of the internet. Africa represents a significant number of the global populace without internet access. Nearly 70% of the Africans representing 800 million people don’t have access.

中国对非洲的持续投资给互联网的语言构成带来了潜在的有趣变化。 非洲代表着没有互联网访问的全球人口中的很大一部分。 在代表8亿人口的非洲人中，有将近70％的人无法使用 。

As initiatives like Starlink and other infrastructure investments unfold, Africa will increasingly join the global internet network in the next decade. Whether they join because of Chinese or US investment, these new users are likely to use one of the 2 dominant languages because of the pre-established network effects.

随着诸如Starlink和其他基础设施投资之类的举措的开展，非洲将在未来十年内越来越多地加入全球互联网网络。 无论是由于中国还是美国投资而加入，由于预先建立的网络效应，这些新用户很可能会使用两种主要语言之一。

Research has suggested (pdf) that speakers of smaller languages online will often opt to use the internet in a larger language, even if they don’t speak it well.

研究表明(pdf) ，在线使用较小语言的用户通常会选择使用较大语言的互联网，即使他们说的不好。

The Digital Language Divide

数字语言鸿沟

But Starlink is an unproven technology and has a slow implementation process. The Chinese investment, on the other hand, is already underway on the African continent. And it also appears that as African’s join the internet their preference is for mobile access.

但是Starlink是一项未经验证的技术，并且执行过程缓慢。 另一方面，中国的投资已经在非洲大陆进行。 而且，随着非洲人加入互联网，他们似乎更倾向于移动访问 。

Mobile internet is an area Chinese companies like Huawei have shown an ability to implement infrastructure quickly. As a consequence, it may be that pre-existing infrastructure investments create a scenario where many of the 800 million African’s default to Chinese web content. This would shift Mandarin to the most dominant language on the web.

移动互联网是华为等中国公司展现出的快速实施基础架构的能力。 结果，可能是先前存在的基础设施投资造成了这样一种情况，即8亿非洲人默认使用中国Web内容。 这会将普通话转变为网络上最主要的语言。

东方与西方的差异互联网 (The Divergent Internet of the East and the West)

The Chinese style of the internet is different from the Western style of the internet. The Chinese standard is a notoriously state-controlled economy, with authoritarian controls on media and other types of content. It’s a communally oriented internet, ie: the good of the state comes before the good of the individual. This is often contrary to the western ideals of individual freedoms, privacy-oriented regulations, and freedoms of expression.

互联网的中国风格不同于西方的互联网风格。 中国的标准是臭名昭著的国家控制的经济，对媒体和其他类型的内容实行专制控制。 这是一个面向社区的互联网，即：国家的利益比个人的利益要重要。 这通常与个人自由，面向隐私的法规和言论自由的西方理想背道而驰。

The divergent aspects of these respective networks have created different technologies and companies that support their respective network ideologies.

这些各自网络的不同方面创造了支持各自网络意识形态的不同技术和公司。

Examples of Divergence:Like WeChat, an all in one P2P chat, social networking service, and payments platform. Many western individuals would balk at the privacy-related issues of having all their data wrapped into one app. In the west, there are privacy and security-oriented technologies like Bitcoin, Signal, and Facebook.

差异示例：像微信一样，一个全方位的P2P聊天，社交网络服务和支付平台。 许多西方人不愿将所有数据打包到一个应用程序中，从而解决与隐私相关的问题。 在西方，有面向隐私和安全性的技术，例如比特币， Signal和Facebook。

China and the Mandarin language are more likely than English speaking countries to become the dominant force in the entire Asia region (with the exception of India). This makes it likely that Mandarin could become the dominant language of the web.

中国和普通话比讲英语的国家更有可能成为整个亚洲地区(印度除外)的主导力量。 这使普通话有可能成为网络的主导语言。

Regardless of whether or not the language balance tips one way or the other, Mandarin oriented web content will still make up significant portions of the internet. The diverging policies and subsequent technologies that form from them will be interesting to follow. They represent an opportunity for aspiring digital workers to bridge the gap in diverging tech.

无论语言平衡是否以一种或多种方式出现，面向普通话的Web内容仍将构成互联网的重要组成部分。 随之而来的各种政策和后续技术将很有趣。 它们为有抱负的数字工作者提供了弥合技术差异的机会。

为什么需要学习普通话 (Why You Need to Learn Mandarin)

Capital, like energy, is a dormant value. Bringing it to life requires us to go beyond looking at our assets as they are to actively thinking about them as they could be.

资本像能源一样，是一种潜伏的价值。 要使之栩栩如生，就要求我们不仅要看待我们的资产，还要积极地思考它们。

It requires a process for fixing an asset’s economic potential into a form that can be used to initiate additional production.

它需要一种将资产的经济潜力固定为可用于启动额外生产的形式的过程。

The Mystery of Capital

资本之谜

In the digital age, information is capital and influence is power.

在数字时代，信息是资本，影响是力量。

The ability to create and curate unique digital information assets is like creating and accumulating potential power. As the languages of the internet contract to be dominated by a few, the cultural ideas reinforced by these dominant languages will be evangelized in developing communities.

创建和策划独特的数字信息资产的能力就像创建和积累潜在的力量。 由于互联网的语言将由少数人主导，因此这些占主导地位的语言所强化的文化观念将在发展中社区中传播。

Influence is gained by leveraging the network effects of the internet to connect large groups of people. As more people join the network, it’s value grows and the internet converges on a few languages and the east/west divide.

通过利用互联网的网络效应来连接大批人，从而获得影响力。 随着越来越多的人加入网络，其价值不断增长，互联网融合了几种语言和东西方鸿沟。

Moving forward, being a monolinguist will prove to be a significant opportunity cost as it represents a disadvantage in controlling the global ideological narrative.

展望未来，成为一名语言学家将被证明是巨大的机会成本，因为它在控制全球意识形态叙事方面代表着劣势。

As China’s geopolitical strategy plays out over the coming decades the adoption of Mandarin can be expected to continuously grow in Africa and the developing world. Therefore, it makes sense for individuals that want to be relevant in an increasingly connected world to speak the 2 most dominant languages.

随着中国地缘政治战略在未来几十年中逐步发挥作用，普通话的采用有望在非洲和发展中国家不断增长。 因此，对于想要在日益连接的世界中变得有意义的个人说两种最主要的语言是有意义的。

Learning Mandarin will empower internet users to tap into a large and growing body of unique internet content. An amalgamation of divergent processes, unique thoughts, and ideologies.

学习普通话将使互联网用户能够利用大量不断增长的独特互联网内容。 各种流程，独特思想和意识形态的融合。

The future of the internet will be characteristic of a multilingual global society where the utility of polyglots becomes significant. By learning Mandarin, you open yourself up to a wider world of opportunities, positioning yourself to maximize the value of the internet's network effects.

互联网的未来将是多语言全球社会的特征，在这种社会中，多元语言的效用变得非常重要。 通过学习普通话，您可以打开广阔的机会世界，从而定位自己，以最大程度地发挥互联网网络效应的价值。