90% of Cypriots Use English on Internet

90 percent of Cypriots use English on the Internet if the website is not available in Greek or Turkish, but they would buy more online if they could use their own language, according to a new survey by Eurobarometer.

English is the most commonly-used language in the EU when it comes to Internet communication, with 48 percent of online users using the language at least 'occasionally.' German and French are used by 4-6 percent of the EU's Internet users. 

97% in Malta and 85% in Greece and Sweden use an English language website if the information is not readily available in their language, but only 35% of Italians, 45% of Latvians, 47% of Romanians and 50% of French would do likewise, says Eurobarometer.

As many as 44% of respondents feel that they miss interesting information because web pages are not in a language that they understand: this is the case for 60% of Greeks, 58% of Spaniards and 56% of Portuguese.

Buying online

Buying online is an area where people prefer to use their own language. Only 18% of EU internet users buy online in another language frequently or all the time, and 42% said they never buy online in a language other than their own.

Men (61%) are also using foreign languages more than women (51%) to buy online, says Eurobarometer.

Eight in 10 (81%) respondents think that websites should have versions available in other languages.

The European Commission said it will be investing in technologies such as the iTRANSLATE4 project to help web accessibility.