Global websites support an average of 22 languages

The average number of languages now supported on global websites is 22, according to the 2010 Web Globalization Report Card. That represents an increase of 220 per cent since the report card was first tabulated in 2003.

It’s true that as access to the internet has grown outside of the Western world, so has the need to support more languages, but I think the increase also represents a growing recognition among multinational enterprises that localisation is key to success abroad.

If you want to do business in a country other than your home base, you have to talk to the potential new customers in their own language according to their own customs and accepted norms. Makes sense, right? I’m surprised at how many small, medium and large operations still get this wrong.

Even so, this year’s report card by Byte Level Research represents a promising trend. Russia is a good example:

“Five years ago, fewer than 40 per cent of the major global web sites supported this language. At that point in time, a company might not have felt any pressure to localize for Russia simply because few other companies did so. Today, seven out of 10 companies support Russian, which means that companies that hope to do business in Russia and do not support Russian are now in the minority,” says John Yunker on his blog Global by Design.