Beyond Borders: Web Globalization Strategies

THE HIDDEN COSTS OF LOCALIZATION

Regardless of whether you hire freelance translators or a localization agency, you need to know where hidden costs lurk and how to avoid them.

Keep It Simple; Keep It Affordable

The most expensive mistake a company can make is to localize a web site without first deciding whether it should be localized. Some web sites are so complex that comprehensive localization could prove prohibitively expensive. Some companies are far better off simplifying their source-language web sites before they begin localization.

For example, the SBC Communications home page (see Figure 6.2) is more challenging to localize than the AltaVista home page (see Figure 6.3) primarily because it relies too heavily on “embedded ...