Despite the fact that the Internet is a global medium, most
companies are still thinking locally when creating sites.
That was the warning from Michel Diab, CEO of Web solutions
provider Arachnea, speaking at a recent eTailForum event in
Reading, writes
Karl Cushing.
Even companies that have a global reach often compromise their
online presence by having regional offices maintaining
country-specific Web sites instead of a single Web site in a
multi-language format, says Diab.
According to Diab, Arachnea helps break down the Web's language
barrier, creating centralised multilingual Web sites that can
accept content from multiple locations. "We like to centralise the
structure and decentralise the content," explains Diab.
Of the 403 million people currently online, 192 million have
English as their first language. By 2003, however, although the
number of English speakers online is expected to reach 230 million,
it is estimated there will be 270 million speakers of Asian
languages and 290 million speakers of other European languages
online. According to marketing communications consultancy Global
Source, Japanese and Chinese are key growth areas.
About 70% of the world economy comes from non-English speaking
countries, says Diab. In a recent Web survey by Georgia Institute
of Technology, 71% of Europeans said they believed more people
would use the Web if the content were provided in their own
language and tailored to their culture.
"With UK companies, most of the Web sites are in English," says
Diab. "The UK is very advanced in terms of online presence but it
is far behind in terms of languages and multilingual sites."
As for justifying the costs incurred in the implementation of
multilingual sites, Diab claims companies can offset this against
increased sales and improved marketing. "If you go global you can
attract more people. And the Internet is the cheapest way to enter
international communication," he says.
However, setting up a multilingual, global Web site on in its
own is not enough - the company must also be committed to a global
strategy.
Arachnea has defined five key areas in the formulation of a
client's global Web strategy: planning, site design, content
production, publishing and maintenance, and updates.
One of the biggest considerations when creating a multilingual
Web site is design. Although an Arabic Web site could be supported
by a Microsoft Web browser, for example, the problems of designing,
setting it up and adapting it remain - Arabic is written from right
to left. And, according to Diab, there isn't any software available
at the moment that can successfully translate content into multiple
languages. There is a big problem with loss of meaning, he
says.
"You have both static and live information on a Web site," he
explains. "The main problem is synchronising this content."
Managing unfamiliar foreign content and the use of double-byte
characters create further problems.
"www.arachnea.com"