The best 25 global websites of 2020
In keeping with past years, I’m pleased to announce the top 25 websites from the 2020 Web Globalization Report Card. When compared with last year’s top 25 list, there are …
Google Translate expands to 108 languages
Google announced the addition of five languages today: Kinyarwanda Odia (Oriya) Tatar Turkmen Uyghur (Sadly, many of the speakers of Uyghur won’t have access to this tool) Notes Google: These …
The top 10 global websites from the 2020 Web Globalization Report Card
I began the Report Card back in 2003 because, at the time, there was nothing out there that focused specifically on the globalization and localization of websites. And, to be …
Google’s global trends 2019
For anyone interested in a truly global (and local) view of the world’s Internet users, I recommend spending a few minutes here. At a global level, it’s revealing to see …
Say goodbye to Google Translator Toolkit
Not a huge surprise given the lack of investment over the years and the rise of more full-featured competitors, but Google is shutting down its Translator Toolkit: Google Translator Toolkit …
What’s the world’s most multilingual website? (2019 update)
Last year, I wrote an essay for Multilingual in which I noted that the world’s most multilingual website isn’t Google or Facebook or even Wikipedia. It is the website of the Jehovah’s Witnesses. As I noted in …
The internet may connect devices, but language connects people.
I had an OpEd published this week in the Los Angeles Times about the importance of languages — and the slow but steady increase in languages supported by the world’s …
Leading with languages: Why 30 languages is below average
According to the 2019 Web Globalization Report Card, 32 languages is the “average” number of languages supported by the leading global brands.
The best global websites from the 2019 Web Globalization Report Card
A little more than 15 years ago, I began benchmarking websites for a new report I had in mind, tentatively titled the Web Globalization Report Card. The number one website in …
The Year of the Pig (one localized website at a time)
Lunar New Year has arrived and, with it, the Chinese New Year (and related Asian New Year celebrations). As I’ve done a few times in the past, I thought I’d …
Google and Wikipedia: Partners in (multilingual) content
In 2008, Google launched a project called Knol. Remember it? It was designed to replace Wikipedia. Google apparently wasn’t happy that so many of its visitors were quickly abandoning it …
Forget it, Jake. It’s China.
A timely article in The Wall Street Journal (that I only recently got around to reading): “The future’s not here.” American business people once saw China as dynamic, exciting and wide open. Not anymore. To which …
A More Responsive Google Translate
Google Translate is the world’s most popular translation tool. The company says it now translates 30 trillion sentences a year across 103 languages. The key data point here is the …
What’s the world’s most multilingual website? (2018 update)
A few months ago, I wrote an essay for Multilingual in which I noted that the world’s most multilingual website isn’t Google or Facebook or even Wikipedia. It is the …
The top 25 websites from the 2018 Web Globalization Report Card
I’m excited to announce the publication of The 2018 Web Globalization Report Card. This is the most ambitious report I’ve written so far and it sheds light on a number of new …