This is a guest post by Milen Epik from Epik Global Solutions. Connect to Milen on LinkedIn.
In my previous post, we saw that many organizations have misconceptions and think they can successfully go global with their existing English website. In this blog, I will discuss another common misconception. Often, organizations believe that they do not need to globalize their website or other content, simply because they are not going to go global and that their market is strictly local. However, in today’s global world, with multiple languages and cultures in one location, it is difficult – if not impossible – to entirely avoid the need to plan for either globalization, internationalization, localization, or at least to support multiple languages.
Here are a few reasons to consider the need for a globalized web site:
#1: Some local markets have more than one “official” locale
Let’s first define the word locale. A locale is a geographic location with a specific language, culture, way of life or way of doing business. In computing terms, a locale is a set of parameters that defines the users’ language, country and any special variant preferences that the user needs to see in terms of functionality and user interface to fit their culture. A locale should be defined based on a language and country/region combination (ISO 3166-2, and ISO 639-1), such as “en_US” for United States English.
Canada and Switzerland are some common examples of countries with multiple official languages, laws, and therefore locales. If you are representing a company or organization based in one of these countries, your local market already requires localizations of your content. For instance, if you are in Canada and targeting all of Canada as your local market, you are going to have to support both Canadian English (en_CA) and Canadian French (fr_CA), at least to the extent of satisfying the laws around the French Charter for Quebec, and reach out to other pockets of French speaking Canadians in other provinces.
According to 2011 statistics related to Switzerland, “German is spoken by about 64%, French by about 20%, Italian by about 7%. Romansh is spoken by less than one per cent of the total population.” Therefore, if you are based in Switzerland, you will most likely need to support at least Swiss German (de_CH) and Swiss French (fr_CH) as locales, in order reach a large portion of the market.
These are just a couple of examples of countries with multiple official languages, but it’s easy to add others as well such Philippines, Belgium, and more. For such countries, companies or organization that target only their local market, end-up needing to provide their content, software products, and documentation in more than one language, and therefore are supporting multiple locales, and thus localization.
Language differences are not the only reason why your website may need to support multiple locales (and/or variants) for a single country. Changing the language does require the content to be translated and culturally adapted to the new locale. However, even if the language remains the same, the content may still need to be adapted for different portions of a country, and thus different content variants come into play. For instance, in Switzerland, each Swiss canton has its own constitution, parliament, government, and its own laws which are enforced by the canton or municipal police. In the case of Canada, Quebec has its own laws and and regulations that companies need to follow if they are to do business in this province. These differences, are important to keep in mind, as any content that refers to a specific governmental agency, a law, business regulation, legal process, etc. would also need to be adapted accordingly, managed and presented as specific “locale variant” to the appropriate target audience.
#2: Significant minorities with differences in language and culture
In the United States, many verticals including finance and education have been providing content in languages other than English for quite some time. In fact, about a decade ago, Wells Fargo was one of the first banks to provide financial training programs for adults, teens, and elementary school students in English and Spanish. Today many financial education sites, such as the FDIC site, and government-related websites, such as the US Labor Department, support at least Spanish in addition to English.
The graph below shows the reasoning behind the need to localize into Spanish for the US. In 2008, the US was ranked 3rd in size of Spanish speaking population.
The United States has the second highest Spanish speaking population in the world, not counting Mexico.
According to the US Census Bureau, US is now ranked as the second largest Hispanic population with over 52 million people, not counting the 3.7 million from Puerto Rico. This 2nd ranking was obtained in 2010, and “only Mexico (112 million) had a larger Hispanic population than the United States (50.5 million).”
The size of the Hispanic population in the US is large enough for many organizations to consider as a separate market or target audience and provide content, messaging and services in Spanish. The US Spanish content, can additionally be adapted to fit the cultural needs of this group, acknowledging important dates, celebrations and other cultural elements such as Cinco de Mayo, or Quinceañera. Thus, even though Spanish is not an official locale of the United States, US Spanish (es_US) is a commonly used locale after US English (en_US), not only for governmental organizations, but also for non-profit organizations and the private sector.
#3. Language support mandates
In the US, insurance companies and pharmacies in certain states have to provide information in the languages of ethnic local populations. This means providing content in Spanish, Japanese, Chinese, Russian and more, depending on the demographics of the state and the laws applicable to the industry.
Since around 2009, Walmart, CVS, Target and other pharmacies have had to spend effort to internationalize and localize their Drug labeling SIG solutions, as well as warning labels, HIPPA related privacy information, etc. for end customers. These requirements come from state specific mandates. While for New York, the initial set of languages to support were Spanish, Chinese, Italian, Russian, Polish and French, California law prioritized Spanish, Chinese, Korean, Russian and Vietnamese.
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“In April 2009, Mr. Cuomo signed an agreement with seven large pharmacy chains – Target, Walmart, Duane Reade, CVS, Rite-Aid, A&P, and Costco. These companies have agreed to provide New York customers with prescription medication instructions in their primary language. Under the terms of these agreements, the companies will counsel all pharmacy customers about prescription information in their own language and provide written translations in 6 specific languages—Spanish, Chinese, Italian, Russian, Polish and French.” (Source: RX Tran: Regulatory Environment for Pharmacies Serving Customers with Limited English Proficiency)
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“California Senate Bill SB 472 was signed by Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger on October 11, 2007. The Bill required that by January 1, 2011, California adopt a standardized prescription drug label. Specifically, the Bill tasked the California State Board of Pharmacy to design such a standardized, patient-centered, prescription drug label and mandate its use by state pharmacies on all prescription medication dispensed in California.” “The CA Board of Pharmacy shall re-evaluate existing pharmacy language requirements by December 2013 to ensure optimal conformance” (Source: RX Tran: California Regulations of the Provision of Translation and Interpreting Services by Pharmacies)
Similar mandates are in discussion or at different points of the legalization process in other states. Additionally, such mandates are also expanding from pharmacies to other health insurance and medical service providers. Obamacare is also a good example of that, as it includes a mandate for “linguistic appropriate services”. It is only common sense to assume that language requirements are here to stay and expand geographically and across various sectors in the future. Therefore, it is best to plan for a framework that will support localization, even when one remains focused on a local population or market.
#4: Likelihood to expand beyond local boundaries
Many organizations create and model their business with only a single market (their local one) in mind. This is an erroneous assumption, as in this global economy, the chances that one’s business growth would never expand beyond its country boundaries are slim at best. With the overall average GDP growth in the BRIC and CIVETS countries being at least three times higher than in the US, sooner or later, there is likely to be a need to reach target audiences and users in other parts of the world. (See How Global Global Can Help You Grow Your Business Faster by Jorden Woods)
Closing Thoughts
In conclusion, the reasons for which organizations need to support other languages and locales is not only driven by outward global expansion but also for local growth and compliance to an increasing number of legal regulations.
Here are a few links you may find helpful in thinking beyond the local market:
- Doing Business in Canada: The Charter of the French Language
- International Service of the Swiss Broadcasting Corporation: Daily Life in Switzerland
- GlobalLex: The Swiss Legal System and Research
- Wikipedia: Law Enforcement in Switzerland
- Wikipedia: ISO 3166-2
- Wikipedia: List of ISO 639-1 Codes
