Survey of Localization on the WWW

A few months ago, the Localization Industry Standards Association (Switzerland) surveyed its global-minded membership (translation firms, localization companies, international managers) to determine whether companies are localizing their Web sites and why. Some highlights:

• Most companies are localizing or considering the localization of their Web sites.
• Most companies think that English cannot be used as the international language of the WWW. Most think that Web users today are not the ordinary Web users of tomorrow. The Web users of today read and speak English better than those of tomorrow. The ordinary Web users of tomorrow will want to see Web-page content in their native languages.

Tips for Web-Page Authors

Do a user analysis to determine what percentage of your Web site's users can read English competently. Consider offering translations of all content or just key content if the percentages are not in favor of English.

• Write standard English, not US American, British, or Australian English.
• Be wary of words that have multiple meanings and that can function as more than one part of speech.
• Use active verbs.
• Minimize the use of acronyms and explain each one each time, since Web users do not read Web pages sequentially.
• Choose metaphors, similes, and examples with global appeal.
• Consider the details: time, date, and telephone formats; currency symbols; units of measurement; and addressing conventions; among others.
• Create global graphics. Hand gestures, animals, symbols, and colors are often problematic. People's attitudes to each of these varies widely worldwide.
• Consider the global appeal of any multimedia you include (sound, video).

Some Resources

Fernandez, Tony. Global Interface Design. Boston: Academic Press, 1995.

Hoft, Nancy. International Technical Communication, New York: Wiley, 1995.

Horton, William, Lee Taylor, Art Ignacio, and Nancy Hoft, The Web Page Design Cookbook. New York: Wiley, 1996.

Horton, William. The Icon Book. New York: Wiley, 1995.

International Technical Communication PIC, STC, http://www.winternet.com/~lmmcgown/itcpic/itcpic.html

Localization Industry Standards Association, 2bis, rue Ad-Fontanel, CH-1227 Carouge, Switzerland, +41 22.301.5760. Michael Anobile, Director: manobile@divsun.unige.ch

Translators Home Companion, http://www.lai.com/lai/companion.html

Translation Listserver, LANTRA-L, listserv@searn.bitnet