An article in the LA Times describes the phenomenal success of Gabriel Garcia Marquez’ memior (the first of three books): “Vivir Para Contarla” (Living to Tell the Tale). The big …
John Yunker
Multilingual Domain Name Redux
It has been roughly a year since RealNames imploded, bringing down with it a service that had supported the resolution of multilingual domain names. The implosion was a big blow …
China’s Gold Rush
When asked about his company’s plans for 2003, Kirk Pond, the CEO of Fairchild Semiconductor, talked mostly about Asia, specifically China. His company already does 70% of its business in …
Local Markets Change Channels
Is American entertainment a bellweather for other American products around the world? American multinationals must certainly hope not, based on this recent article. It seems that American studios are no …
Have a Mecca Cola and a Smile
When the world loved America, American multinationals could do (almost) no wrong. Nike, Coke, McDonald’s and the rest could sell their goods practically anywhere in the world and make a …
Translating Government for the Web
I contributed an op-ed piece to the Boston Globe. They published it yesterday, and I’d love to hear what you think. Here’s an excerpt… Former advertising executive Charlotte Beers, now …
Global Web Services
Web services, should it become a global success story, will require modifications along the way. The Web Services Internationalization Task Force will be instrumental to its success. Here’s an interesting …
Seasons Greetings
Afrikaans> Een plesierige kersfees Arabic> I’D MIILAD SAID OUA SANA SAIDA Armenian> Shenoraavor Nor Dari yev Pari Gaghand Azeri> Tezze Iliniz Yahsi Olsun Basque> Zorionak eta Urte Berri On! Bohemian> …
Translating Fashion
The French children’s clothing store Jacadi is a case study in the craziness that is globalization. Here is a French store expanding into the U.S. market because its fashions are …
Another Country, Another Domain Name
From .ar (Argentina) to .za (South Africa), there are more than 100 country code top level domain names (ccTLDs) out there just ready for the taking. And many people have …
China’s Biggest Export
It was Air Jordan that helped the NBA go global. Now it seems the NBA is taking a more localized approach to globalization, one player and one country at at …
The EU: Bigger and Better
The EU took a big step toward becoming the world’s largest trading market, with 446 million people vs. NAFTA’s 416 million. It put 10 additional countries on the track to …
What’s the #3 Language in Canada?
If you didn’t grow up speaking English or French in Canada, you most likely spoke Chinese, according to new census data released on Tuesday. Statistics Canada reported the number of …
@ By Any Other Name
French is such a rich language that it now has, by state decree, two words for “@” — the “at” sign that has become a worldwide symbol for the Internet …
When Brand and Country Collide
McDonald’s is about as American as apple pie, and that’s not such a good thing in parts of the world where America not in vogue. Consider the following from the …