Global by Design

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.
So when it comes to naming products or setting prices, you have to be very careful about your choice of numbers. Here are some tips:
6 means “good [...]

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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 this article, I do just that, and I render a verdict as to which Web site is better.
Search
The best way to compare search engine quality [...]

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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 first posting -
Four years ago, I was working for a localization company in Shanghai. One day, I received a phone call from a woman who [...]

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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 from the US and just a small amount of money overseas, which is not the best place to be if you want to ride the [...]

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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 design that not only features twice as much text, but also features animation:

Try it out yourself.
According to Search Engine Land, “The new, animated Google Korea home [...]

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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 a cops and robbers film global than a romantic comedy.
According to the WSJ (sub required), Comedy Central is going global, but with a distinctly local [...]

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