Future of non-English but Latin domain names

[..islesv..]

Hi all,

I'm a total newbie to domain names, so forgive me if my question sound stupid or if it already answered somewhere.

I'm not a native English speaker and my language is Cebuano, which is spoken by 25 million people in the Philippines alone. (There are more outside the Philippines, but no statistics is available.)

My question is about the future of domain names in Cebuano in particular and in non-English languages with Latin orthography in general. Do you think that as the Internet spreads its hold to non-English speaking population, there would be a corresponding demand for these non-English domain names? And if that so, would it be wise to park some of these (esp. the more important ones) while waiting for the coming boom, if any?

Thank you very much for any idea.

 

[-Alex-]

Seeing that your language is spoken by at least 25 million people I think there is a great market for domain names (in that language)

As for latin domain names...not nearly so. Latin is no longer an official language of any country and is greatly decreasing in popularity. Unless it is a latin work WIDELY known, I wouldn't think it would work out so well.

I hope I helped.

 

[tfking]

I think there may be some value in grabbing some of these names if the price is modest at this time. The lack of double vowels sounds and/or the variations in consonants make the English valuations impossible, but if you get good common words and phrases, you should be profit over time. The TLD (Top Level Domain) might be important as well. I would recommend staying with .COM at the begining unless you see a real movement to another regional or country specific TLD. This is not because of any ethic or cultural bias, just a safer investment strategy. .COM domains can be resold more easily in the current market than other TLDs.

I thought Taglog/Filipino was the most common language in the Phillipines! This would cover the almost 90 million people and might make for a better bet. I have personally have quite a few Spanish language domains, even though I am not a native Spanish speaker.

Good Luck and Welcome!

 

[barefoottech]

As for latin domain names...not nearly so. Latin is no longer an official language of any country and is greatly decreasing in popularity. Unless it is a latin work WIDELY known, I wouldn't think it would work out so well.

By latin ,I think he meant ,with Latin (I.e. English) Alphabet rather than
with any other lettering system (idn's)

 

[TARozzelle]

speravi eum loqui de latine

et pugnit me quod latina ita non placet tibi.

 

[Rob J]

Keep in mind your audience is 25 million verses over 1b english speakers, so you're at a disadvantage there. But it's a niche, I say go with it especially since you speak the language. It can be difficult and frustrating to deal in domain names of languages you don't speak.

Another thought, and sorry to sound ignorant but I really don't know, how wired is the Philippines ? If internet connections are rare who are you going to sell to?