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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What began as just another “gisting” application — like Babel Fish — is gradually becoming an impressive translation tool. And I’m not referring to the quality of translation, though that is improving as well.
I’m referring to the breadth of languages and breadth of features that Google Translate supports.
Today, Google announced that Google Translate added support [...]

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Techcrunch reports that Facebook is a day away from launching a German-language interface, translated in part by 2,000 volunteers. Spanish was launched a few weeks ago. And French is also nearly here.
MySpace is also busy building localized Web sites.
I reviewed both Facebook and MySpace for the 2008 Web Globalization Report Card, as part of the [...]

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So SDL is buying Idiom.
SDL has posted an FAQ page about the deal here — but the list is absent a question I recently posed:
Does this acquisition mark the beginning of the end of SDL being a translation services provider?
I think it does. Or, at least, I think it should.
I haven’t received an official answer [...]

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Guest Article:
By Jane McConnell
NetStrategy/JMC

Based on the 2007 Global Intranet Strategies Survey by NetStrategy/JMC
The second annual Global Intranet Strategies Survey conducted from June through August 2007 revealed some starting facts about the true state of globalization behind the firewall.
78 organizations around the world participated, representing 45% headquartered in Europe, 43% in North America, 10% in [...]

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Lionbridge evaluated the Spanish-language Web sites of the presidential candidates and found that Hillary Clinton offered the highest percentage of translated content for Hispanic voters.

Lionbridge evaluated the sites of Clinton, Obama, and Edwards on the Democratic site and Romney on the Republican side. It appears that Huckabee and McCain have more or less given up [...]

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