THE OBSERVATORY OF THE
Linguistic and
Cultural Diversity
in the Internet
The Observatory of the Linguistic and Cultural Diversity in the Internet (OBDILCI) is a non-profit organization that researches the presences of languages and cultures online. Since 1998, we have developed methodologies to conduct this research, which have evolved to keep up with the changes in the Internet. Our work is peer-reviewed and we are the only organization dedicated solely to this work, and as such, our data is the most reliable and in-depth.
Our Projects
- Indicators for the Presence of Languages in the Internet
- The Languages of France in the Internet
- French in the Internet
- Portuguese in the Internet
- Spanish in the Internet
- AI and Multilingualism
- DILINET
- and more…
Peer-Reviewed Publications
Our most important work is peer-reviewed, published in scientific journals, and often presented at research conferences worldwide.
Funding and Partners
Second Period (Since 2017)
Funders: Organisation Internationale de la Francophonie, Brazilian Ministry of Foreign Affairs via Instituto Internacional da LĂngua Portuguesa, DĂ©lĂ©gation gĂ©nĂ©rale Ă la langue française et aux langues de France du Ministère de la culture, Permanent delegation of Brazil in UNESCO
Partner: UNESCO Chair on Language Policies for Multilingualism
First Period (1998-2017)
Funders: Organisation Internationale de la Francophonie, Union Latine, UNESCO and Délégation générale à la langue française et aux langues de France du Ministère de la culture,
Partners: Union Latine and MAAYA
Did You Know?
- As of May 2023, only 20% of Web content in the Internet is in English (not 50% or more!)
- 19% is in Chinese
- 7.8% is in Spanish
- 3.5% is in Arabic, Hindi , Russian, French or Portuguese
* Sources : Ethnologue, ITU & a large collection of sources consultable in : https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/frma.2023.1149347/full#supplementary-material
** Confidence interval ±20%
Latest Blog
- V5.2: New version of model, November 2024The model has made a new run from ITU data updates. ITU changed the percentage of individuals connected to the Internet for 62 countries, using sources provided by the countries. The changes concerned only…
Often Cited,
Often Referenced
Our work has often been cited in research publications and even integrated into art exhibitions.