Learning the local languages: Global marketers are getting the message
Adding new languages to web sites will be a key trend among retailers and other companies seeking a global presence, according to a new survey from web globalization consultants Byte Level Research LLC.
Most multi-national companies offer multilingual web sites, but few feel they offer enough content in enough languages, the survey found. “We’re looking at an average 30% increase in the number of languages that companies will support over the next three years,” says John Yunker, president of Byte Level Research.
87% of those responding to the survey said that Chinese is the most important language to add to a global web site. “The potential of selling to this market of 1 billion consumers is driving a lot of companies to launch Chinese language web sites,” Yunker says. “That’s where there’s so much growth in terms of Internet users as well as an expanding middle class.”
Other languages cited as top priorities by those surveyed were Spanish for the U.S. market (34%), Spanish for Latin America (23%), Arabic (23%), Russian (17%), and Korean (11%).
Byte Level Research surveyed about 250 companies and vendors, of which between 10% and 20% were retailers with a web presence.
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