English-only multinationals are a bad idea
You can decree that the employees of your company speak only English. You can train everyone. You can test everyone. And you can get everyone to speak English in meetings, …
Culture
World 3.0: Making Sense of a Semi-Global Planet
I received an advance review copy of Pankaj Ghemeawat’s new book World 3.0: Global Prosperity and How to Achieve It. I greatly enjoyed his previous book, Redefining Global Strategy, calling …
The Top 25 Global Web Sites of 2011
I’m pleased to announce the publication of the 2011 Web Globalization Report Card. This year, we reviewed 250 web sites across 25 industries. The web sites represent nearly half of …
Facebook: From 1 to 100 languages in two years
It was just over a year ago that Facebook started localizing itself for the world. As I noted then, the company utilized crowdsourcing to spur its translation efforts. And though …
Translating numbers in China
As John wrote awhile back: All lucky numbers are local. And this is particularly true in China, where people pay thousands of dollars to obtain license plates with lucky numbers. …
Google vs. Baidu: A User Experience Analysis
There are tons of articles about Google vs. Baidu, but few of these articles take an in-depth look at how Google compares to Baidu from a Chinese user’s perspective. In …
Localization in China
I am pleased to have been invited by John Yunker to contribute thoughts on the localization industry in China. I welcome your comments and suggestions for future articles. Here’s my …
Campbell Soup in Russia: Is it “Navaristy” Enough
Speaking of Russia, according to the Wall Street Journal (subscription required), Campbell Soup is making a big push into both Russia and China. The company makes most of its money …
Google Gets Animated in Korea
In case you thought that Google’s austere home page design was sacrosanct, think again. In an effort to win over the locals in Korea, Google has just launched a new …
Does Comedy Travel?
In advertisign and in entertainment, it is very difficult to create humor that travels. Slapstick comedy generally does better than cerebral comedy, but you’re likely to have better luck taking …
Starbucks CEO on Globalization: Don’t Go Changing
Chief Executive Magazine recently featured a brief Q&A with Jim Donald, CEO of Starbucks. He shed some light on the company’s global strategy. in short, Starbucks is trying to change …
Now That’s What I Call A Localized Email
Air New Zealand just sent me a “Happy Thanksgiving” email…
The Globalization of PR: Myth or Reality
Guest Article: By Harris Diamond, CEO Weber Shandwick The question of whether the globalization of PR is a myth or reality is easily answered: it is definitely a reality. The …
The Transcultural CEO
Quote from the dean of INSEAD, Frank Brown: “The world’s next generation of leaders must have transcultural skills. They need to have an appreciation and understanding of cultures, and know, …
You Don’t Know Jack: The Case for Controlled Vocabulary
The Rockley Bulletin features a great article on the importance of using controlled vocabularies, particularly for documentation. The article cites a customer support call in which the word “jack” is …