Think Outside the Country: Coming April 10th
I’m pleased to announce the new book Think Outside the Country: A Guide to Going Global and Succeeding in the Translation Economy, due out on April 10th. Think Outside the Country is …
Countries
The Internet connects devices; Language connects people
There are more than three billion people on the internet today, yet fewer than 25% speak English natively. Roughly a billion of these non-English speakers connect to the Internet via mobile …
Celebrating the “Father of Pinyin”
I was saddened to read that “the father of Pinyin” died this weekend in Beijing (though he did live to be 111 years old). While until now I never knew …
Lululemon: Global shipping is step one
Lululemon provides an interesting case study of a US-based retailer taking its first steps towards going global. And, like all first steps, this one is rather awkward. To be clear, Lululemon …
The world’s biggest shopping day is November 11th
China’s Alibaba is the creator (and exporter) of this one-day ecommerce extravaganza that takes place on 11/11. And despite being a one-day event the pre-promotion is in full effect. According to …
More than half of the leading global websites support Thai
Following up on my previous post, I was asked just how prevalent Thai is on the leading global brands. According to the 2016 Web Globalization Report Card, Thai is now …
Web localization is a black and white issue
The death of Thailand’s King Bhumibol Adulyadej has led to stores running out of black and white clothing as the population mourns its leader in color-appropriate clothing. What does this …
WordPress reaches 50 languages as it expands into India
This blog began more than a decade ago when WordPress was available in English only. WordPress is now available, fully translated, in 50 languages, in impressive achievement. Polyglots Team Experiences …
Are you celebrating India’s festival season? Amazon sure is
Flipkart has long been the dominant ecommerce retailer in India, but Amazon is no longer content to remain in second place. Amazon launched its Great Indian Festival promotion this week with free prizes including a …
The one “flag” you should never use on your website
I visited the home page of the Chinese online travel agency website Ctrip recently and came across this odd flag: Just because the UK voted to separate from the EU …
The Savvy Client’s Guide to Translation Agencies, now in Persian
Make no mistake. The proposed deal between Boeing and Iran Air for 88 jets is a huge deal, not so much in dollars but in symbolism. Because there are many …
Now you can register the Korean equivalent of .com: 닷컴
Earlier this year Verisign, the registry that manages the .com and .net domains, began rolling out the localized Japanese equivalent of .com: .コム. Today, Verisign adds another language to the mix, with …
You can now register the Japanese equivalent of .com: .コム
And so it begins. Verisign, the registrar that manages .com domains, has begun its rollout of non-Latin .com equivalents, beginning with Japanese: Now, if you don’t have a Japanese domain name, …
Chinese marathoners suffer from lack of translation
According to People’s Daily, a number of runners in a South China marathon suffered from more than simply lack of hydration. Try lack of translation. The bar of soap shown above was …
Chinese drawing even with English on global websites
Over the past decade Simplified Chinese has grown to become one of the most popular languages on global websites, second only to English. According to the Web Globalization Report Card, …