Digital Globalization

Internationalization (i18n) and localization (L10n) is usually an afterthought within web product development and for many web workers synonymous with language translations. ‘Let’s get the US version out the door first and then worry about internationals’, is a phrase I’ve heard too many times.

“Internationalization is the design and development of a product, application or document content that enables easy localization for target audiences that vary in culture, region, or language.”

“Localization refers to the adaptation of a product, application or document content to meet the language, cultural and other requirements of a specific target market (a “locale”).”

W3C – Internationalization

It stems from that the lead product manager is only measured on the US product performance and prepared to cut corners to meet deadlines. But it also derives from a serious lack of knowledge within the field of product management. Out of sight, out of mind if you will.

But to be fair, our current globalization trend is not that old. I remember back in 2002 when few collegues had their focus on what was going on in India, China, Brazil and South Korea. Most business magazines hadn’t yet picked up on the growth trends in the so called emerging markets. Two years later everyone talked about international markets.

So it’s only natural that digital globalization wasn’t really part of the training program for most product managers. The professionals that were first exposed to these challenges were the engineers and the designers. The engineers understand encoding, writing systems and the existence of different measurement systems. Designers understand the power of symbols, functionality and user experience. But most importantly, they understand the impact of building something for one specific locale and they having to retrofit selective parts to make them fit for any locale. They were the first to feel the pain.

To succeed within any new field you need vision, patience and diplomacy. Insight and change takes time and effort. It’s not just enough to point out the need or the shortcomings but essential to lead the way.

The key to understand what digital globalization is lies in the word and definition of culture. Culture is a system of values, shared belifes, customs, norms, institutions and artifacts in a certain society. This system makes it easy for people to interact with each other. It’s the glue that makes a society work, that simplifies any interaction and that creates stability.

But knowing more than your own native culture is hard and takes time. Most cultural expressions are very subtle. Like the way you use your fork at dinner, or greet someone (one kiss, two kisses, bow, handshake…). Others are more obvious and easier to spot. These have often become stereotypes and somewhat deceptive. Japanese being humble, Germans logic and Italians amicable.

One recent cross cultural experience from our trip to Argentina was their lack of credit card usage. You have to use cash in most places for sums below $20. That means that you need to visit the ATM teller a few times a week, something I haven’t done for years. Here, in the US, I assume that I can use any of my credit cards anywhere, even for a cup of coffee, a newspaper or a parking fee. Therefore I hardly carry any cash. In Argentina that is unheard of – cash is king.

But there are some universal standards that has been accepted over the years. Maybe not by every country but by most. English is today considered the official business language; the metric system is used for measurements all over the world except for Burma, Libera and the US; and Gregorian calendar is how we track time. That said, there are a lot that will never be and the trick is to find the right balance between globalization (the lexus) and localization (the olive tree).

The fun part with digital globalization is that there is no one-solution fits-all. It’s about finding the right balance between what can be shared, what’s universal and what is unique. Knowing that all might change within a not so distant future.