Airbnb doubles (yes, doubles) its linguistic reach
As I’ve documented in many editions of the Web Globalization Report Card, companies tend to add languages in fits and starts. The overall average is about one additional language per …
Translation
1,000 languages: The world’s most multilingual website
The Jehovah’s Witnesses announced today that its website reached 1,000 languages, an impressive achievement. The release notes: On November 4, 2019, jw.org, the official website of Jehovah’s Witnesses, reached an unprecedented …
For Flipkart (Walmart) and India: English is not enough
Earlier this month, I wrote about Amazon and India. Now let’s look at Walmart and India, via Flipkart, the leading online marketplace in India. Walmart acquired 77 percent of the …
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 …
Amazon and India: Actions and Languages
In technology, as in life, actions speak louder than words. And if you look at the actions Amazon has been taking over the past 18 months, it’s clear that Amazon …
Selected slides from Mary Meeker’s 2019 Internet trends report
I always enjoy skimming through Mary Meeker’s annual survey of global Internet trends (now via Bond Capital). What follows are a few slides that jumped out at me. Let’s begin …
WordPress Translation Day recap
Looks like the most recent WordPress Translation Day was a linguistic success. Here are the details from WP Tavern: Events in 35 countries (see map below) 183 new contributors 12 …
Deloitte: The best professional services website of 2019
For the 2019 Web Globalization Report Card, we studied the following professional services websites: Accenture Capgemini Deloitte Ernst & Young Goldman Sachs KPMG PwC For the first year since we …
Cisco Systems: The best enterprise technology website of 2019
For the 2019 Web Globalization Report Card, we studied the following 13 enterprise technology websites: Autodesk Cisco Systems DHL FedEx HP Enterprise Huawei IBM Intel Oracle SAP Texas Instruments UPS …
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 …
WordPress Translation Day is coming
Did you know that (US) English accounts for fewer than half of all WordPress interfaces currently in use? As you can see below, courtesy of WordPress, English still technically accounts …
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 …
World Book Tekom: Speaking in Tongues
I’m pleased to have an essay in the latest Tekom World Book: Speaking in Tongues: What Languages Should Your Website Support? Link
Women Entrepreneurs Grow Global
I number of years ago I virtually met a woman named Laurel Delaney. She had founded the consultancy GlobeTrade and had authored of a number of very good books on …
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.