Adventures in web globalization, since 2002
I was at Staples in San Diego yesterday and found that the company has translated its “That was easy” button into Spanish. I’m not sure if this is a national retail phenomenon, but it’s pretty nifty — and I would …
Back before the Internet, I worked in marketing for a publishing house and we were coming out with a dictionary of Hispanic culture in the US. During the marketing meeting, the issue of the title came up: Hispanic vs. Latino? We must have wasted a good hour on the issue without any firm conclusion. Boy would Google have come in handy then.
I think we settled on Hispanic but nobody was really sure what the right answer was.
Toys ‘R’ Us has released its top 5 toy trends for the 2006 holiday season and trend number two was nice to see… Trend #2: Bilingual Toys Catering to the growing demand for products that promote dual language skills among …
Lionbridge announced today that it “is localizing the web site for The Well Project Inc., a not-for-profit corporation with a mission to change the course of the HIV/AIDS pandemic through a unique focus on women.” The WelL Project launched its …
Just when I thought the dark days of US xenophobia couldn’t get any darker, I read that Utah has taken down its Spanish-language Web site. According to the article, “”Two weeks ago, the state launched www.espanol.utah. gov, a Spanish-language companion …
First, here is a picture of the billboard in question: According to the WSJ, VW was using this billboard to pitch its new GTI to young, bilingual Hispanics. But it appears that the billboard got a little too much attention. …
The Spanish-language edition of Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince is due out next week. Now this begs the question: Which Spanish is it being translated into? According to the press release: As with the five preceding Potter books, the …
According to a recent study by Feedback Research of online consumers who lived in the US, spoke Spanish at home and/or used Spanish media regularly: 69% of Spanish-speakers who shop online preferred Spanish language sites when shopping or gathering information …
Pacific Gas & Electric Company has launched a Spanish-language site for the US market. Here’s the press release The Spanish site is parked at www.pge.com/espanol. But PG&E wisely also redirects from the URL: www.pge.com/es. Also important, the English PG&E site …
A new study by the Roslow Research Group on behalf of Hispanic U.S.A. “challenges the assumption that the use of Spanish will decrease in coming years as succeeding generations of Hispanics are born and grow up in this country.” Key …
According to Bloomberg, the US Hispanic population is growing three times more quickly than the US population as a whole. Here’s an article excerpt… Hispanics accounted for half the U.S. population growth from July 2003 to July 2004 and numbered …
According to this article, Quebec Premier Jean Charest has hinted that he might crack down on the spread of English in the workplace. Apparently French is losing its grip. albeit very slowly, in this Canadian Province. The report I just …
Up until recently, only a handful of US banks have served the Hispanic population reasonably well. But that’s all changed now that the Hispanic market is worth an estimated $700 million. Recently, Spain’s Banco Bilbao Vizcaya Argentina (BBVA) purchased Laredo …
Multilingual Computing has published a “Guide to the Spanish Speaking World.” It includes an article from yours truly on Web localization for the US Hispanic market; in the article I profile Southwest Airlines, which recently launched a fully featured Spanish-language …
Cox Communications announced yesterday that it is rolling out Spanish-langauge bills in selected markets. Here is the press release. I found an interesting new term in the release: transcreating. This is just another term for localization, and I’m not sure …