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interested in en: than any other language. There will be considerable numbers of casual readers who will be deterred by having to make any choice on language, however trivial.
At the very least, the current portal could be changed to say "Select your preferred language" or some such thing. I suspect there are many English speakers who would not even recognize the list currently on www.wikipedia.org as a list of languages. People who have no exposure to languages beyond their own can have a very low tolerance for reading foreign words before flinging up their hands in exasperation.
(Even here in Canada, an English-speaking country that is more bilingual than most, I have known people who have become confused, irritated, or even enraged at hearing "for English, press one" on voicemail systems.)
Do you think that that type of people know how to use a encyclopedia or even know what a encyclopedia is?
I am sorry to say but someone who does not know what to do when he gets a list of languages on the main page of a website does not belong before a computer but before a TV.