bit-tech.net | YouTube goes international

David_Fitzy 19th June 2007, 10:47

No Chinese version for one reason, if the Chinese can understand youtube they'll start using it. Chinese censors will then block the site, a total waste of time for youtube.

Tim S 19th June 2007, 11:17

Of course, and I guess that's something I should have thought of. However, I think there's definitely a market there and I think that there can be appropriate content management in place (similar to the anti-copyright measures YouTube currently has).

DXR_13KE 19th June 2007, 11:18

no Portugal at the moment...... :( bah. even if there was i would still use the English version.

iBoosh 19th June 2007, 12:13

You'll also find that English is considered to be the widest used language. China might be a big country, but Chinese is not it's only language.

Tim S 19th June 2007, 12:55

Quote:

Originally Posted by iBoosh
You'll also find that English is considered to be the widest used language. China might be a big country, but Chinese is not it's only language.

Unfortunately, it's not.

Chinese is the most widely spoken language with over 1.3 billion people speaking the various dialects fluently - there's not just Mandarin (the official dialect), there's also Cantonese, Min Nan, Wu, Xiang, Hakka and Gan. However, all of the dialects just use different tones, and as far as I am aware the actual characters are the same (this is at least the case with Mandarin, Cantonese, Min Nan and Hakka) - therefore written Chinese is the most widely used language in the world.

English is spoken (to some level of competence, although not fluently) by around 20 percent of the world's population but only around 500m use English as either first or second language, while Mandarin Chinese is spoken by well over 1 billion as their primary language and another 20m as their secondary language.

English is spoken in more countries than Chinese and this is why it is recognised as the dominant international language (72 countries recognise it as an official language), but when it comes to the number of people that speak the languages, Chinese is an order of magnitude bigger.

iBoosh 19th June 2007, 16:39

Cut 'n' paste for the win!

Tim S 19th June 2007, 18:38

It's matter of fact, I'm merely backing up the reality with actual data - there are several sources that back up the data too. Do a quick search on Google if you don't believe the data.

English is the most widespread language (thanks to the British Empire), but Chinese is spoken/written by at least twice as many people.

DougEdey 19th June 2007, 19:10

Quote:

Originally Posted by Tim S

English is the most widespread language (thanks to the British Empire), but Chinese is spoken/written by at least twice as many people.

So iBoosh was right, it's the most widely used (in terms of #countries) but Mandarin is the most spoken language.

Anyway this is going OT.

quack 19th June 2007, 19:11

Why would I, as someone in the UK, want to use the UK site instead of the US one?

Tim S 19th June 2007, 19:20

Localised content I guess :)

Quote:

Originally Posted by DougEdey
So iBoosh was right, it's the most widely used (in terms of #countries) but Mandarin is the most spoken language.

Anyway this is going OT.

The most widely spoken in terms of percentage of the world's population (which is what I was referring to, since this story is about localised YouTube portals) is Chinese. I'm not denying that English is recognised (and spoken in) more countries than Chinese. ;)

David_Fitzy 19th June 2007, 20:00

Arrg You're all arguing against each other with the same point. Why has the forum turned into a reader vs. writer arena.

A chinese version would definately be a good choice looking at numbers alone, but it's web two point oh, freedom of speech unleashed on the Chinese masses, easy communication of ideas, even with content control I don't think the Chinese government will like it and will just add it to their block list.

Amon 19th June 2007, 20:12

This is what you'll find on Youtube Japan:

http://img527.imageshack.us/img527/85/normalaliceninegroupbigko3.jpg
J-Pop/J-Rock

http://img515.imageshack.us/img515/3567/smoky04ox7.jpg
Pseudo-legal expressway driving

You'll only find anime uploaded by American users, ironically.

Zephyr 19th June 2007, 23:27

Quote:

Originally Posted by Tim S
It's matter of fact, I'm merely backing up the reality with actual data - there are several sources that back up the data too. Do a quick search on Google if you don't believe the data.

English is the most widespread language (thanks to the British Empire), but Chinese is spoken/written by at least twice as many people.

As you've said yourself, it's not the most widely used language, it's the most used language by population. Your article is wrong. Also, "The most widely spoken in terms of percentage of the world's population" is a statement in direct contradiction with itself. Most widely spoken != in terms of percentage. In how many locations on the globe it's spoken is one thing, how many people on the globe speak it is a completely different statistic.

Cabe64 20th June 2007, 10:38

I hope this doesn't affect the search functionality. If I'm searching for a video of something on YouTube I don't want it limited to UK videos.

DougEdey 20th June 2007, 10:40

Quote:

Originally Posted by Tim S
Localised content I guess :)

Localised adverts you mean? Remember Google is an advertising company.

completemadness 20th June 2007, 15:33

Quote:

Originally Posted by Tim S
Unfortunately, it's not.

Chinese is the most widely spoken language with over 1.3 billion people speaking the various dialects fluently - there's not just Mandarin (the official dialect), there's also Cantonese, Min Nan, Wu, Xiang, Hakka and Gan. However, all of the dialects just use different tones, and as far as I am aware the actual characters are the same (this is at least the case with Mandarin, Cantonese, Min Nan and Hakka) - therefore written Chinese is the most widely used language in the world.

English is spoken (to some level of competence, although not fluently) by around 20 percent of the world's population but only around 500m use English as either first or second language, while Mandarin Chinese is spoken by well over 1 billion as their primary language and another 20m as their secondary language.

English is spoken in more countries than Chinese and this is why it is recognised as the dominant international language (72 countries recognise it as an official language), but when it comes to the number of people that speak the languages, Chinese is an order of magnitude bigger.

Your wikipedia link, when you get down to it goes to
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_languages_by_number_of_native_speakers
However, this has a 15 page dispute, and both figures are estimates (it doesn't list how its estimated these figures, nor what they are based on)
1 small quote

Quote:

the precise ranking is flawed. Maybe we should try tiers or something. The problem is that there is no central authoritative source. Ethnologue is the best bet, but their data are from rather different periods, and with population doubling every 30 years in some countries, data from 1991 just doesn't cut it (e.g. Tajikistan).

secondly
http://www2.ignatius.edu/faculty/turner/worldlang.htm
The latest data is from 1999, probably just at the begging of the computer boom, this data is 8 years out of date, and the world has dramatically changed in that time

Edit:
Kinda missed the point researching this (and doing this post like 3 times)
However, there do seem to be complaints that Mandarin has many different varieties, indistinguishable from each other

Only Google knows why they didn't release a chinese version of youtube

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