Web globalization news and announcements


Upcoming Events


ReadySetGo: Global Navigation

Just because you’ve expanded your website into new markets doesn’t guarantee that users can easily find it. Using real-world examples, this session explains visual and technical solutions to ensure that users discover their local websites quickly and easily. From country codes to geolocation to the visual global gateway, this session will help you improve the findability of your local websites.


October 27, 2023

Learn more


Spotlight on Spanish

Each of the presenters has a unique client-side perspective to share: from the transcreation strategies that global gaming companies like EA and King Games utilize to the methodology for choosing the Spanish variants that companies like Airbnb use, Spotlight on Spanish has you covered. Whether you are a seasoned linguist or a marketing firm, you will have the opportunity to address your specific Spanish-related question, as well as discover questions you haven’t yet thought of.


November 6–7, 2023

Learn more




Previous Events

LavaCon Content Strategy Conference
October 2022

World Usability Day 2021
November 11, 2021 (virtual event)

Learn more

LocWorldWide 44
June 9-10, 2021

Learn more

LocWorldWide 43
January 27-28, 2021

Learn more

Translating Europe Forum 2020
November 6, 2020

Translating for digital businesses: multilingualism as a factor for business success

Reinventing the Translation Industry
June 11-18, 2020

Learn more and register


News


Multilingual Magazine

The Connective Multilingual Internet: When the virus closed borders, languages crossed them

Slator

3 Key Principles for Localizing E-commerce at Scale for International Growth

Los Angeles Times

America's biggest brands are increasingly multilingual

Tekom World Book

Speaking in Tongues: What Languages Should Your Website Support?

Multilingual Magazine

Speaking in Tongues: Corporate America needs to get religious about languages

tcworld magazine

The new translation economy and how to succeed in it

GoDaddy Blog

Ready to conduct business across borders? Read these 10 books on globalization.

Travel Weekly

Aussie Sites Make List of World's Best Tourism Websites

GoDaddy Blog

How to take a website global: An interview with web globalization expert John Yunker.

The Seattle Times

Languages are a means to an end, a journey as well as a destination
Consider Starbucks. In 2003, this aspiring global company supported a mere three languages. Today, it supports 25, which may sound like a lot until you compare it to many other global brands. ...

The Next Web

Apple leads in languages (but only when speaking in tongues)
There is an area where Apple still has a head start on the competition: Voice User Interface (VUI) localization...

MarketingProfs

Your Website Should Support a Lot More Languages Than You Think It Should
The Internet connects computers, but languages connect people. Fifteen years ago, few websites supported 10 languages. In fact, it was common to believe that your website was "global" at five or six languages. This was understandable, given the simple fact that most Internet users at the time were native-English speakers.

JQuery Foundation

jQuery Foundation Launches Globalize v 1.0
Interest in web globalization has steadily increased in recent years, with the number of languages supported by top global sites such as Google, Facebook and Wikipedia averaging 50, according to Byte Level Research Web Globalization Report Card.

GigaOm

Make your product “translation worthy,” and the world will follow
When a software company asks me if I think its new product will succeed globally, I typically respond by asking: Is your product translation worthy? In other words, are people eager to voluntary translate your app or website into their language?

Medium

The next Internet revolution will not be in English
The Internet was designed to be global, but it was not designed to be multilingual. For decades, this limitation was most evident in website and email addresses, which permitted only a small set of Latin characters.

UX Magazine

Taking Mobile Global: Tips for Aligning Mobile and Global Web Strategies
With more than 55 million iPads in use around the world and more than 400 million smartphones sold in 2011, companies are increasingly thinking “mobile first” when developing their web and mobile app strategies.

The Next Web

Web design, with the world in mind: a guide to website internationalization
“Yunker notes that Google in particular has always excelled at building scalable products, and part of this has meant designing minimalist interfaces...”

UX Magazine

Secrets of Well Traveled Websites
Few industries are more global than the travel industry. Not only must travel and hospitality companies serve customers across a large number of countries and languages, they must do so across a wide range of mobile devices.

IEEE Spectrum

Parlez-vous Facebook?
“Developing the next languages showed how much power Facebook has when it taps into its own network of users, says John Yunker.”

Toronto Star

Star Trek’s universal translator one step closer
“This is definitely a glimpse into the future,” Web globalization expert John Yunker told the Star. “There are plenty of flaws. I wouldn’t base any important business deals on it. But I do think we’re going to be able to communicate on a level we’ve never been able to communicate before.”

The Wall Street Journal

Web Start-Ups Search History
"You can never underestimate culture and how that's going to pose challenges," said John Yunker, a consultant at Ashland, Ore.-based Byte Level Research, which helps companies expand abroad. "If Google and Yahoo are struggling in these markets, it should drive home that these are very difficult markets."

Intellectual Property Watch

The Next Internet Revolution Will Not Be In English

Communication Arts Magazine

Byte Level's "See the World" poster is a featured exhibit

Multilingual Magazine

Learning from the Best Global Websites

The Wall Street Journal

We Know Where You Are
With 1.2 billion people around the globe now connected, "the Internet is starting to reflect the world," with its many languages, competing interests and rules and regulations, says John Yunker, president and chief analyst at San Diego consulting firm Byte Level Research LLC. "Those boundaries are coming back," he says, and geolocation is the "air-traffic control" that lets companies route travelers.

Financial Times

Web gurus help retailers find a common language
"If you look at the demographics in the US, you have to plan for working in more than one language if you want to connect," says Mr Yunker. "Even if people are speaking in English, they might still be dreaming in Spanish."

SearchCIO.com

Firms make effort to tap global appeal in corporate websites

The Globe and Mail

Globalization: The world's not so flat

Industry Week Magazine

Cat.com Takes Top Web Prize

Multilingual Magazine

IKEA: Behind the Best Global Retail Web Site
 Click here to download article

SearchCIO.com

Multilingual Web Sites Now Competitive Requisite
"The view that it's OK to get by in English has changed, even between business-to-business companies. Companies are starting to use translation as a competitive edge," said John Yunker, co-founder of Byte Level Research LLC in San Diego and author of Beyond Borders: Web Globalization Strategies.

Business Week Magazine

Murdoch's Mission to China
China "is a very cut-throat environment," says John Yunker, president of globalization consultancy Byte Level Research. "It's a tough market to crack. You can't assume you'll be successful in China."

Internet Retailer

It`s a small world: Technology leaps borders—but culture doesn't, as US e-retailers find new markets require a new approach

Boston Business Journal

Lionbridge to sell 9.4 million shares on Nasdaq

Internet Retailer

The (insert foreign nationality here) are coming
"U.S. retailers have for many years had the luxury of addressing a very large market that mostly speaks the same language, while European retailers have been doing business in multiple languages on the Internet, including English," Yunker says. "They are well prepared to localize their web sites for the U.S. market."

Time Magazine

Why eBay Must Win In China
According to John Yunker, president of Byte Level Research, "by 2006, and perhaps even by the last quarter of this year, non-U.S. revenue will surpass U.S. revenue."

IEEE Distributed Systems

Web Globalization Effort Growing

The New York Times

Wi-Fi Service Expands Its Reach
"There are so many layers to how airports work, every airport operates differently,'' said John Yunker, a wireless-technology communications consultant from Escondido, Calif. "The more audiences the airport wants to serve with the network, the more complicated it is to deploy. We're still in the early stages of Wi-Fi deployment."

Press Releases

March 2023
 Announcing the top 25 global websites of 2023

April 2021
 Coronavirus Flattened the Language Curve According to 2021 Web Globalization Report Card

March 2021
 Wikipedia names best global website of 2021

February 2020
 Despite tariffs and tensions, companies continue to expand their global and linguistic reach

February 2019
 Wikipedia Named Best Global Website (for second year in a row) of 2019 by Byte Level Research

August 2018
 New Report Makes the Case for Removing all Flags from Websites and Applications

January 2018
"Think Outside the Country"" now available in Japanese

June 2017
Germany Named Best Global Tourism Website

April 2017
New book helps companies Think Outside the Country

February 2017
2017 Web Globalization Report Card names top 25 global websites

February 2016
2016 Web Globalization Report Card names top 25 global websites

February 2015
Google emerges on top of 2015 Web Globalization Report Card

February 2014
A Decade of Website Research Highlights Website Language Explosion



A Web Globalization Pioneer

Founded in 2000, Byte Level Research was the first agency devoted to website and content globalization best practices. Over the years we have helped hundreds of companies improve their global content, websites and software through our reports, consulting, speaking and training sessions.




Questions?

Email John Yunker


Connect





"Think Outside the Country" is a registered trademark of John Yunker, Byte Level Research LLC.

Our Privacy Policy