Really, the nTLD program is all about language. Its aim: To carve up the world into fragmentary name spaces based not only on topic but on vocabulary. Since most nTLDs are meaningful keywords or abbreviations, they’re constrained by or biased toward some language’s geography. .EARTH and .GLOBAL, despite the grand planetary canvas they describe, disclose an English perspective – just like .PLUMBING or .DOCTOR. And that fact does imply that their center of gravity will reside in English-speaking countries.
Languages share words, thanks to common origin or regular commerce between them. But inconsistent spellings can severely limit nTLD market size. A French or Italian audience might accept .POKER, but Spanish or Portuguese speakers would expect .POQUER. There goes South America! .FOOTBALL fails to account for the Spanish .FUTBOL, which itself won’t cover “futebol” in Brazil.
Abbreviations pose similar challenges. .NGO is English; but .ONG, which has the very same meaning, is Spanish / Italian / French / Portuguese / Romanian. .GMBH is a German abbreviation. .LTDA (like English’s .LTD for “limited”) is Spanish and Portuguese … but not Italian. And .IMMO manages to function in German / Italian / French … but not in Spanish, whose spelling deviates by introducing an “N”: “inmobiliario” as opposed to “immobilien” / “immobili” / “immobilier”.
Read MoreConsequently, I’m confident that at least 145 nTLDs are meaningful in multiple languages. The remaining 614 suffixes seem – at this juncture – to be unique to a single language. But, of course, if I were to continue looking for instances of these terms in Greek or Bengali or Norwegian dictionaries, some would turn out to span more than 1 language after all. So the 614 number would shrink, and the 145 count would grow. Here’s the best way to interpret these numbers: (1) more than 145 multilingual nTLDs; (2) fewer than 614 monolingual nTLDs...
