Whereas 90 percent of internet surfers in the EU prefer to access websites in their own language, 55 percent at least occasionally use a language other than their own when online, according to a pan-EU Eurobarometer survey. However, 44 percent of European internet users feel they are missing interesting information because web pages are not in a language that they understand and only 18 percent acquire products online in a foreign language. The survey also shows that while there is a huge amount of quality online content available, not everyone can use it to equal advantage, due to varying language skills. On average, one out of two internet users in 23 member states uses a language other than their own to read online. However, this figure hides great variations, as between 90 and 93 percent of Greeks, Slovenes, Luxembourgers, Maltese and Cypriots indicated they would use other languages when online, but only 9 percent of UK citizens, 11 percent of Irish, 23 percent of Czechs and 25 percent of Italians said they would do so. Around 48 percent of internet users in the EU would use English at least "occasionally" while Spanish, German and French would be used by 4 percent to 6 percent of users. Nearly 90 percent of internet users in Cyprus, 97 percent in Malta and 85 percent in Greece and Sweden use an English language website if the information is not readily available in their language, but only 35 percent of Italians, 45 percent of Latvians, 47 percent of Romanians and 50 percent of French would do likewise. On the other hand, Luxembourgers prefer to use French (67%) and German (63%) to English (55%). In the UK and Ireland, where not many internet users mentioned using a second language, French was the most commonly used foreign language for reading or watching content on the Internet (9% and 7%, respectively). Most people are faced with a situation of using another language when they are looking for information (81%), but 62 percent use it also in social relationships, typically when communicating online with friends, or for professional reasons (52%). Online shopping is an area where people prefer to use their own language. Only 18 percent of EU internet users buy online in another language frequently or all the time, and 42 percent 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. Almost 9 in 10 respondents (88%) consider all websites produced in their country should use their national official languages. However, nearly 81 percent think such websites should also have versions available in other languages.
