Localized Washing Machines
The Reveries Web site has an interesting piece on Whirlpool and its localization efforts in Latin America. Apparently the company has had great success in Brazil by creating a low-cost …
John Yunker
Vonage: Voice Over Español
The upstart voice over IP (VoIP) telecoms operator Vonage just launched a Spanish-language Web site: Here’s a press release excerpt: “Vonage is pleased to present a Spanish translation website as …
François in a world without ç
In the recent Globalization Insider newsletter, there is an excellent article by Chuck Wrobel about managing names across different scripts. This is a real challenge for multinational organizations, and it …
Coke’s Nativa Product Launch
According to this interesting Dow Jones article, Coke is recently launched a new beverage in Argentina that takes advantage of the local fondness for the yerba mate plant. Called Nativa, …
Global Web Site Review: Swagelok
It is becoming much more common for companies to issue press releases after adding another language (or locale) to their Web sites. For example, Swagelok, a maker of “fluid system …
AT&T: Going Global Awkwardly
AT&T boldly announced today that it had launched a seven-language Web site at www.att.com/global. I’ll give AT&T and ‘A’ for effort and a ‘D-‘ for execution. The major problems have …
Most Global Countries
A.T. Kearney, Inc. and Foreign Policy magazine recently released their list of the top 20 most global countries. The survey takes a number of factors into account, such as politics, …
Multilingual Health Care
HIP Health Plan of New York today announced that it has added a fourth language, Korean, to its Web site: www.hipusa.com. Now the press release isn’t entirely honest. It says …
Wanted: A Few Good Translators
According to this article, the government is in need ofa few (or few hundred) translators of Arabic, Farsi, and Pashto. Here’s an excerpt: The government is looking for linguists who …
Idiom Tags Along
To succeed in software these days, you need really tight alliances and Idiom’s “go it alone” approach over the years has cost it dearly. The latest warning flag came in …
Bilingual Ads Arrive
The San Antonio Express-News has an article on the growing number of bilingual (English and Spanish) ads. Here’s an excerpt: There are “more Latinos in the United States than there …
Chinese Whispers
This very interesting article is not about China but about the EU Parliament, and how it intends to manage its ever-increasing number of languages. As the EU expands, so does …
Kola Real Takes on Coca-Cola
For anyone who says that globalization is a one-sided game in which American is always the winner, I submit Kola Real. Kola Real, known formally as Industrias Ananos, is giving …
Heading Toward Multilingual URLs
In a recent press release, ICANN, the organization in charge of the chaos that is our domain name registration system, has made multilingual domain names a priority (again). Here’s what …
Chinese Hoops
According to a recent press release, last year more than 15 NBA teams incorporated Asian American marketing efforts into their overall marketing plans. And the timing isn’t due just to …
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