Most common requested languages

World Languages

Did you know that the following 15 languages constitute 80% of global GDP?

1. English
2. Chinese
3. Japanese
4. Spanish
5. German
6. French
7. Portuguese
8. Italian
9. Russian
10. Arabic
11. Hindi
12. Korean
13. Dutch
14. Bengali
15. Turkish

Now compare that with Cisco’s annual Visual Networking Index that  estimates how different countries will consume internet traffic by 2015.

Consumer Internet Traffic by 2015

Needless to say, if you’re looking to grow your company, you must be open to the idea to selling your products and services globally. If you decide to take the global route then you should also know that according to research done by Common Sense Advisory, “the vast majority (85.3%) of respondents feel that having pre-purchase in formation in their own language is a critical factor in buying insurance and financial services. Conversely, just 45.8% of the sample told us that language is important to buying clothes on the web. The more valuable an item, the more likely it is that someone will want to read about the product and buy it in their own language.” So, all in all, the language in which you sell your products and services in does matter.

Credit: Cisco, The Economist, and Common Sense Advisory.