TITLE: Interplay of Language and Culture in Global E-commerce: A Comparison of Five Companies' Multilingual Websites

AUTHORS(s) & AFFILIATION(s): Shaoyi He, School of Information Sciences and Technology, Pennsylvania State University

KEYWORD(s): Language and Culture, Global E-commerce, Multilingual Websites

PRESENTER / CONTACT PERSON: Shaoyi He

CONTACT EMAIL: she@ist.psu.edu

ABSTRACT:

This paper compares five companies' multilingual websites, focusing on the language translation and culture alteration between English, Simplified Chinese and Traditional Chinese. The multilingual websites of the following five companies are visited: 1) Cisco, 2) Hewlett-Packard, 3) IBM, 4) Intel, and 5) Microsoft. Firstly, a macro-analysis of all the segments of the first page on each website are accessed in English, Simplified Chinese and Traditional Chinese is conducted to reveal the retention, addition and omission of any segment in the corresponding pages in Simplified Chinese and Traditional Chinese. Secondly, a micro-analysis of the actual retention, addition and omission is conducted for each website on the language structures and culture elements between English and Simplified Chinese and Traditional Chinese. Finally, the quality of the five companies' multilingual websites are compared with the following categories:

1. Addition in the translation of language structures and culture elements from English into Simplified Chinese and Traditional Chinese that have enhanced or weakened the website's quality;
2. Omission in the translation of language structures and culture elements from English into Simplified Chinese and Traditional Chinese that have enhanced or weakened the website's quality;
3. Retention of the culture elements of English that have enhanced or weakened the website's quality.

The significance of this study is two-fold: it will not only reveal interesting findings on some companies' multilingual websites in terms of the interplay of language and culture, but also provide helpful insights into the development and evaluation of multilingual websites in global e-commerce in the future.

Last modified October 28, 2001 by Scott Tilley.