'We are observing more and more that other languages are taking over the Internet,' said Victor Montviloff, who is responsible for information policy in the communication and information sector at the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization. 'Languages like German, Russian and Spanish are spreading at rapid speed on the Web,' Mr. Montviloff said. 'French has lagged relatively behind, because France until now has seemed more preoccupied with protecting its language against foreign invasion than promoting it. But now, the number of French-language sites also is fast multiplying. ' Because the Internet makes it possible, other languages are also starting to challenge the hegemony of English in distance education. The Internet is helping to revive minority languages and cultures by bringing together widely scattered linguistic communities. An estimated 320 million people speak English as a mother tongue-fewer than those who speak Spanish or Mandarin-and demographic trends indicate that native English speakers will decline as a proportion of. the world's population. Probably more than 1 billion people speak English with varying degrees of proficiency as a second language. David Graddol, a language researcher and lecturer at the Open University in Britain, said that, on the one hand, English is becoming a language of everyday usage in some countries in Northern Europe. 'Something like 70 percent of the Dutch population claim now that they can hold a conversation in English quite comfortable,' Mr. Graddol said. 'For them, it is not a textbook-based foreign exercise. They are already exposed to English in the environment. People have learned a little bit of it before they even get to school, and they can see immediately that it has some use in their lives. In courtiers like the Netherlands, Sweden or Denmark you need English to complete your education.' 'In other countries however, English is more truly a foreign language,' said Mr. Graddol, whose consulting firm, The English Company, produced a worldwide report titled 'The Future of English' for the British Council a few years ago, 'In some countries, there is not very much English in the environment and people may be learning it from teachers who may not speak English very well themselves.' In some countries, like India and Nigeria where English has been used a long time, distinct local varieties of the language are emerging, complete with their own dictionaries, textbooks and literature. 'English is so important in these countries that people use it in part to create their own social and even national identity,' Mr. Graddol said. 'When that happens, the language starts going its own way. The variety of English that proficient speakers in such countries are learning may not be terribly useful in an international context.' Bertrand Menciassi, of the European Bureau for Lesser Used Languages in Europe, said the use of a world language both helps and hinders linguistic diversity. People can use English for their outside contacts, while cultivating their own tongue or dialect for use at home. On the other hand, he added, English is tending to push European national languages like Dutch or Danish into a corner. Maintaining linguistic diversity is an important aim of the European Commission, which is concerned that the increasing acceptance of English as the European lingua franca should not detract from the vitality of other languages. The commission argues that the ability to speak two or three tongues will give the Europeans economic and technical advantages over their monolingual American rivals in the world of diversity, and is about to kick off 'The European Year of Languages'. Mr. Montviloff may believe that over the Internet ______ .