About this Author
John Yunker is founder of Byte Level Research and author of the widely acclaimed book, Beyond Borders: Web Globalization Strategies and editor of Global By Design. He has covered the emerging field of Web globalization for half a decade and has published a wide range of reports dedicated to best practices in Web localization and internationalization.
About this blog
Going Global focuses on the risks and rewards of expanding into new geographic and cultural markets, from Web globalization to international marketing to global usability.
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Monthly Archives
May 28, 2005
Posted by John Yunker
Last week I received a "Factory Tour" invite from Google but didn't give it much thought. I wish I had because I missed a preview of the company's ambitious machine translation (MT) efforts.
Thankfully, Philipp Lenssen includes a great recap of the Webcast at this site: Google Blogoscoped. It's worth a read.
Apparently Google is taking massive libraries of source and target text and dumping them into a database where the relationships between source and target text are analyzed and memorized. This database is then leveraged to translate new source text. Philipp explains it better than I...
This is the Rosetta Stone approach of translation. Let’s take a simple example: if a book is titled “Thus Spoke Zarathustra” in English, and the German title is “Also sprach Zarathustra”, the system can begin to understand that “thus spoke” can be translated with “also sprach”. (This approach would even work for metaphors – surely, Google researchers will take the longest available phrase which has high statistical matches across different works.) All it needs is someone to feed the system the two books and to teach it the two are translations from language A to language B, and the translator can create what Franz Och called a “language model.” I suspect it’s crucial that the body of text is immensely large, or else the system in its task of translating would stumble upon too many unlearned phrases. Google used the United Nations Documents to train their machine, and all in fed 200 billion words. This is brute force AI, if you want – it works on statistical learning theory only and has not much real “understanding” of anything but patterns.
This sure is brute force MT. I'll be very interested to know just how long a string a text Google can effectively translate. More important, how will Google handle the flood of brand names, oddball terms, and local slang?
But let's just assume that Google does make this ambitious project a success; how will this affect the translation industry in general and Web globalization in particular?
Assuming this all does work moderately well, companies will be incented to pull all text out of graphics to make the most of this free translation service. After all, if Google is providing users in Vietnam a free translation of your company's Web site, why not do what you can to make everything translatable.
This would also be yet another blow to Macromedia Flash, not that the emergence of AJAX isn't doing enough damage.
But what about the impact on translation vendors? i don't think they have much to worry about, yet. The need for high-quality, human-edited translation isn't going away anytime soon. Long term, however, all bets are off. Google should be on every translation vendor's radar; this company has lots of money, lots of smarts, and lots of incentive to provide the world's text in all the world's languages.
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+ TrackBacks (0) | Category: Business Globalization | Globalization Vendors | Translation | Web Globalization
May 19, 2005
Posted by John Yunker
Here's an interesting article about a book that might be worth checking out: The INSEAD-Wharton Alliance on Globalizing: Strategies for Building Successful Global Businesses. Okay, it's not the most exciting title, but the article is worth a read.
It introduces the concept of a global branding continuum, which basically means that there are "various levels of being truly global. It is not always achievable, nor desirable, to go the full extent. Some form of local adaptation may be necessary, either in the product/service that is offered or in the positioning relative to competition."
Here's a good example of this concept:
What kinds of products do not lend themselves to global brands? Food is one category where, literally, differences in tastes from culture to culture compel global companies to adapt to local conditions, according to Day. At the other end of the spectrum is a company like Intel, whose products and markets make it easier for executives to establish a truly global brand with a memorable catch-phrase: "Intel inside."
Naturally, you could extend the continuum concept to Web globalization. While Intel uses a consistent global design template across most countries, a fast food company like McDonald's may be more likely to "go local" with the design. Compare McDonald's China to McDonald's US and you'll get the idea.
I would still argue that McDonald's can still use a global template while remaining locally effective (and save a ton of money along the way). Besides, its use of bandwidth-heavy Flash in markets where broadband penetration is relatively low doesn't make much sense. But I digress...
I like the global branding continuum concept because it emphasizes the immense complexity of taking a business global.
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+ TrackBacks (0) | Category: Business Globalization | Web Globalization
Posted by John Yunker
Strong overseas growth, that's what they have in common.
In fact, when you look at their quarterly numbers, had it not been for robust overseas growth these companies would not have hit their global growth targets. And I don't thinnk it's coincidence that these three companies have global Web sites that rank in the top 25% in our 2005 Web Globalization Report Card. HP finished second overall.
While there is always room for improvement, these companies have invested more than most companies in selling their products abroad, from localization of product documentation to Web-based support to in-country sales offices -- particularly in emerging markets. And their efforts are paying off...
Intel
According to CNET News, Intel is looking well beyond the US in product development opportunities...
The market ... is an increasingly international one that will be driven by developing markets, (CEO Paul Otellini) said. In 1995, Intel had dealers in four cities in emerging countries. Now it has dealers in 1,275 such cities. A decade ago, 15 percent of PCs ended up in emerging nations; today, the percentage has risen to 38 percent.
To this end, Otellini said, the company is trying to develop new products that will fit the circumstances of these markets, both economically and otherwise.
"We found that selling products designed for North America isn't the best recipe," he said. "They need to be much more rugged, much more sensitive to dirt, much more sensitive to power interruption."
Dell
According to this InfoWorld article Dell enjoyed a very nice quarter thanks to "rest of world" ...
The increase in revenue was driven largely by a 21 percent increase in sales to businesses and consumers outside the U.S., said Kevin Rollins, chief executive officer, on a conference call following Dell's earnings announcement. Customers outside the U.S. now account for 42 percent of Dell's total revenue, he said. Shipments in Europe, the Middle East, and Africa increased by 26 percent compared to last year, while shipments in Asia-Pacific, including Japan, increased 27 percent.
HP
Despite job cuts on the horizon, HP managed to turn in decent numbers for Q2. Why? Credit an EMEA market that grew twice as fast as the Americas...
According to InfoWorld...
HP said revenue in Europe, the Middle East and Africa grew by 10 percent, year-over-year, to $9.1 billion for the quarter, which ended April 30. In Asia, revenue was up 9 percent, to $3.6 billion. Both regions outperformed the U.S. which grew by just 4 percent during the period, totalling $8.8 billion.
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May 12, 2005
Posted by John Yunker
I was happy to be quoted in a CMO Magazine article on the challenges of taking your Web site global. It's a must read for anyone in this field.
Here are a few good excerpts:
"We learned that it was not just about taking the copy off our English site and translating it," says Match.com Chief Operating Officer Joe Cohen, who oversees the company's international operations and expansion efforts. He now understands that localizing a website is very different from translating it.
"I'm at the point where I tell translators to forget the copy on the U.S. site," says Cohen. "I say, Let's talk about the meaning and the semantic message." Since that initial overseas push, Match.com has worked to strengthen ties with local marketing partners in the 35 countries where it now has local language sites in order to more effectively reach customers in those areas.
... and ...
"In some markets, the level of quality given to the websites was similar to what you were seeing in the U.S. five years earlier," says Pattiann McAdams, Avon's executive director of North American e-commerce, who also works closely with localized Avon sites in other parts of the world. "In many markets, they treated the website more like a brochure than as a medium to maximize our message with graphics and animation."
This second excerpt really hits on the key issue I'm seeing these days. Companies have long looked at their overseas revenues as gravy and, as such, have largely overlooked the Web sites managed by their overseas Web teams. But now as overseas revenues are growing to the point where they're becoming a "main course" in and of themselves, these overseas Web sites are getting some much-needed attention -- and financial investment.
This article is definitely a must read.
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May 10, 2005
Posted by John Yunker
While I've been waiting for the iTunes Australia site to launch (it was held up recently) I realize that I missed the launch of Denmark, Ireland, Norway, and Sweden. There are now a total of 19 iTunes country Web sites:
In December there were 14:
And in September of last year there were just four; that's right, just four:
There must be some awfully tired localization managers at Apple...
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May 9, 2005
Posted by John Yunker
Expedia does not offer a Chinese Web site, yet. It does have the next best thing though, a majority share of eLong, a Chinese-based travel Web site.
Here is an interesting article about the brewing battle for dominance of one of the fastest-growing travel markets in the world.
In fact, if you book a hotel in China using Expedia, you may already be using eLong and not even know it. According to the article...
Justin Tang, chief executive of eLong, says his company has begun supplying some of the Chinese hotel inventory in Expedia. It has also entered into an alliance with Visa, becoming the first Chinese online travel site to accept payment by credit card.
But Web-based travel sites are still largely a novelty in China.
...foreign business strategies do not always work in China. The Chinese online market is unique - 70 to 80 percent of online travel reservations originate on the telephone, he says, and not on the Internet.
Nevertheless, the market is young and expansion appears inevitable. Currently, only 5 percent of all hotel bookings and 1 or 2 percent of airline reservations are done online.
Survey firm iResearch forecasts the online travel market will grow to 2.8 billion yuan by 2007, nearly five times' last year's 610 million yuan.
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May 5, 2005
Posted by John Yunker
The much-anticipated launch of iTunes Australia is on hold due to, who else, a record company. Or, more specifically, a record company's lawyers.
According to the Courier-Mail:
A source said yesterday Apple had planned to launch an Australian version of its popular online music store last Thursday, as widely touted, but the launch was thwarted by one unnamed major record company that refused to sign an agreement in time.
The hurdle reportedly forced Apple to cancel radio advertisements ordered for the date, and it is expected to delay iTunes's launch by days, or possibly weeks, as song and album prices and payments are negotiated with the holdout label.
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Posted by John Yunker
VC Michael Moe writes about China and offers a heaping helping of China stats. Here are a few to ponder...
- China has an official 1.3 billion people—that's 1/5th of all people on the planet. Unofficially, it has 1.5 billion people—the 200 million that aren’t counted is larger than the United Kingdom, France, and Germany combined!
- China has 100 cities with 1 million or more people—and to put this in perspective, the United States has nine. Shanghai, the financial hub that buzzes with the optimism of Silicon Valley, has 17 million people. Beijing has 14 million.
(FYI: Tom Friedman, in The World is Flat says there are 160 cities with 1 million or more people.)
- China is the #1 market for mobile phones (350 million users), #1 steel maker, #1 coal producer, #1 in foreign direct investment ($500 billion), #1 auto market by 2010, and #2 market for PCs.
- 320 million people under the age of 14—more than the entire United States population. There are 300 million Chinese moving from rural communities to cities.
Of course, I have no way to verify any of these stats. And, given that China is hardly a transparent country, there are few people around who can verify these stats. But that's not really the issue. China is big, real big.
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May 3, 2005
Posted by John Yunker
Car rental company Thrifty announced today that it has launched three language Web sites: French, Spanish, and German. This is the company's first foray into Web globalization.
This is also another sign that the hospitality/travel industry is embracing Web globalization in a big way this year. Hotels have also been investing heavily in localizing their Web sites lately, such as Best Western.
As car rental companies go, Hertz is the leader in terms of Web globalization; it supports nine languages and scored well above average in our 2005 Web Globalization Report Card. But these are the early days of Web globalization yet and more players are likely to enter the field.
Thrifty's globalization vendor was Translations.com. Thrifty is also using Translations.com's workflow software GlobaLink.
Thrifty does business in 64 countries, so I imagine that more languages are inevitable. However, it is very important that these first three languages be a success for the company to invest in additional languages; after a brief tour of the sites, I have a number of recommendations to improve Thrifty's likelihood of success. If you've been reading this blog for awhile, you'll probably know what I'm talking about when you visit the site.
I will be analyzing the Thrifty Web site in our next issue of Global By Design.
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May 2, 2005
Posted by John Yunker
International revenue growth for Amazon continues to outpace domestic growth, according to their Q1 earnings release:
"International segment sales accounted for 45% of worldwide net sales, up from 40% for the trailing twelve months ended March 31, 2004."
By this time next year more than half of Amazon's core segment revenues will come from outside the US, which is signficant when you consider that Amazon is only doing business in seven markets outside the US.
So what's the next market for Amazon? India? Russia? Italy?
I'm betting on India. They already have a development group there to assist with localization...
I'd also like to see a fully localized Spanish site for the US market, which wouldn't take great expense to develop. The company already sells Spanish-language products, but only through an English-language interface.
To some extent, Amazon has little choice but continue entering new markets. Even emerging markets will become mature eventually; when that happens, revenue growth starts to decelerate.
This is from the Wall Street Journal...
Amazon's business appears to mirror the slowdown that Internet auctioneer eBay Inc. witnessed in its recent first-quarter earnings report. EBay, San Jose, Calif., has acknowledged slowing growth rates in its two oldest markets, the U.S. and Germany.
In the first period, Amazon saw a deceleration in its international sales, which, for most Internet companies, promises to be a big driver of revenue growth. International sales rose 28% to $875 million. Excluding the effects of foreign-currency fluctuations, the international sales rose 24%, which is down from 58% a year earlier.
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May 1, 2005
Posted by John Yunker
The NY Times has a great article about the making of Disneyland Hong Kong
It looks like Disney learned some painful but important lessons about the importance of localization from the Euro Disney disaster.
Writes Laura Holson...
When Disney opened Disneyland Paris in a former sugar beet field outside Paris in 1992, the company was roundly criticized for being culturally insensitive to its European guests. Now Disney burns incense ritually as each building is finished in Hong Kong, and has picked a lucky day (Sept. 12) for the opening.
This may seem silly to Westerners, but imagine Disney opening a new park in the US on Friday the 13th. Other details include a liberal use of the number 8 and an avoidance of the number 4. You won't find a fourth floor here.
I'm glad to see a more humble Disney localizing itself to the world. And I love this quote: "It used to be Disney was exported on its own terms," said Robert Thompson, a professor of popular culture at Syracuse University. "But in the late 20th and early 21st century, America's cultural imperialism was tested. Now, instead of being the ugly Americans, which some foreigners used to find charming, we have to take off our shoes or belch after a meal."
Now, about that Web site...
I couldn't help but notice that the Disney Hong Kong and Disneyland Hong Kong Web sites place their language navigation in the "sweet spot" of the upper right corner. This is the perfect location; here is a screen grab from the Disney Hong Kong page:
Perhaps the folks who manage Disney.com will follow Disney Hong Kong's lead. Today, if you visit Disney.com you'll have to look really hard to find the "global gateway." It's buried in a pull-down menu at the bottom of the Web page:
Now why is this a big deal? Because Web and marketing professionals are finding that up to half (and sometimes more) of their Web traffic to the .com page originates from outside the US. It's critical that these visitors find their languages and countries as quickly as possible. Disney Hong Kong gets it and I believe that Disney.com will get it too, eventually.
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+ TrackBacks (0) | Category: Business Globalization | China | Cultural Issues | Web Globalization
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