oh! the mouse2003.02.24

Globalization is just hard. Internationalization alone is not easy — just translating what you've got into different languages is expensive and isn't something on which you can cut corners. Then localization starts (customized content and/or behaviour) and managing several or even dozens of versions of your site with local identities and more is, well, daunting. Why so few companies do it, and even fewer do it well.

It's something we struggle with every day at work. I work pretty much hand in hand with the International Webmaster to make sure things we develop or adopt for the domestic site will work internationally. It's a lot to manage and a lot to think about and it's just hard. But I do understand why it's worth it. Beyond Borders: Web Globalization Strategies (right) has been helpful to us, if for no other reason than to tell us we're moving in the right direction.

I keep a sheet of paper tacked on my wall at work. It's a printout of a Babelfish translation I made more than a year ago when one of our clients sent feedback to us in Korean. Since I don't speak Korean, I was hoping Babelfish could help. This is the translation I got back:

Affectionately, this phrase has been referred to as “Oh! the mouse!” — we use it whenever we need to be reminded that the world is not all one language or culture, and that disconnects are all too easy if we're not careful.

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