only 30 miles away but I was getting help from a person half way around
the world. Distance and geography no longer mattered!

OK, this is great! But what is it leading to? I am only able to communicate in
English but, fortunately, the other person could use English as well as German
which was his mother tongue. The Internet has removed one barrier (distance) but
with that comes the barrier of language.

It seems that the Internet is moving people in two quite different directions at
the same time. The Internet (initially based on English) is connecting people
all around the world. This is further promoting a common language for people to
use for communication. But it is also creating contact between people of
different languages and creates a greater interest in multilingualism. A common
language is great but in no way replaces this need.

So the Internet promotes both a common language AND multilingualism. The good
news is that it helps provide solutions. The increased interest and need is
creating incentives for people around the world to create improved language
courses and other assistance and the Internet is providing fast and inexpensive
opportunities to make them available."

2.2. A Non-English Language: The Example of French

Let us take French as an example of a non-English language.

Since 1996 the number of sites in French has increased significantly. There were
about 20,000 sites in French in mid-1997, and more of a third of them were from
Quebec. Since the beginning of 1998 we can see a larger number of new French
websites, particularly in the field of electronic commerce. "For two years I
have being waiting for France to wake up. Today I'll not complain about it,"
Louise Beaudouin, the Minister of Culture and Communications in Quebec, declared
on February 10, 1998, when interviewed by the daily cybermagazine Multimedium.

Until early 1998, Quebec and its 6 million inhabitants had more websites than
France did with its 60 million inhabitants. In her interview, Louise Beaudouin
gave two reasons for France's lagging behind Quebec -- the first is the high
cost of phone service, and the second is the widespread use of the Minitel for
commercial transactions.

Developed 15 years ago by France Telecom, the French state telephone company,
the Minitel is a terminal which gives access to the French videotex network, as
well as facilitating electronic commerce transactions. As this very handy tool
has been