Other Dominant Languages For the Internet

[Herman Gigglethorpe]

If an equivalent to the Internet is created in a non-English speaking culture, will its language become much more influential than in our world? German seems to be a possible candidate, if it can maintain its status as the "language of science" (most likely by either avoiding World War I or a Central Powers victory). Maybe French for its widespread use in diplomacy? Or Russian if the Soviet bloc develops better computer technology?

(Or will American and British influence overpower English's competitors anyway, even if they don't develop the Internet first?)

Extra bonus points if you can make a plausible scenario where an East Asian language like Chinese or Japanese wins.

 

[walmart]

You would need a language other then English as the global lingua franca or English will just overtake it

 

[MichaelWest]

In my drafting of an altered Great War I can keep German the de facto language of science and engineering with French lingering in gentile circles for diplomatic parties, but English should remain the linqua franca of commerce, not just because of the USA but because of the British Empire. That said I could conceive of an internet being developed in Europe and relying upon German, perhaps more academic in its initial purpose, not unlike ARPANet but not unlike the hypertext of CERN making a web for researchers outside defense. It may not be until the commercialization of the web that English takes better hold, certainly having more content in the popular forms. To get you an Asian language I would propose a more fragmented and less standardized internet. With each national phone monopoly developing its own standards and proprietary systems we could see an "internet" more intranet, in the native language, virtually isolated. Now I think various interfaces develop so the "internet" might be more patchwork with a German dominated portion, Japanese, French and obviously English portions/content/servers where more translation and more indigenous "web(s)" exist. English is dominant but hardly dominating, it may or may not quite look like the consumer friendly thing we see now, it might be less connective or more so as people are forced to go into other realms online for content that is in other languages, especially in business versus consumer content.