Globalization: A Complex World
Various translation and localization services.
By Tom Livingston
¡Tengo un dolor de cabeza! J'ai mal à la tête! Ich habe eine Kopfschmerzen! Ho un'emicrania! More than a few Web entrepreneurs have said, "I have a headache!" after confronting the realities of taking their sites global.
Often applications can't accommodate foreign language needs. Asian characters require the double-byte capability of Unicode. Streaming media can be useless in China, where connections are narrowband.
Cultural response to site design can also be a problem. "In North America we tend to move the mouse rectangularly, horizontally, and vertically. In Japan, the tendency is to navigate spherically," says Paula Shannon, vice president of multilingual e-commerce solutions for Lionbridge Technologies in Waltham, MA.
Beyond architectural issues, sites face a logistical problem that grows more complex with each new foreign language version. Information must be synchronized. Multiple sites require business rules that ensure standard information, presented in appropriate ways for each of their local markets. Corporate technicians, translators, and local site managers must work in synch to coordinate each site update.
"The worst-case scenario is a client who has already gone to market but hasn't given one thought to globalization and has to start over," says Jeff Williams, marketing communications coordinator for Lingo Systems in Portland, OR. "It's frantic to get its product to market, recoup its investment, and make money.
