Re: Hello from a new list member, interested in multilingual web sites

Hi Micheal,

Um, I also have to contened with building builingual sites. I speak both 
French and English and live in a predomenently French speaking area and I 
have had to get a lot of information on the subject of multiple language 
sites.

Unfortunately, I don't have many references, but I do know for sure that 
your best bet would be to create two different sites. One in English and one 
in Japanese. The reason is because a japanese speaker might not speak 
English or vice versa and if you mix both languages it might lead to 
confusion and design-wise it's easier to create say a template for the site 
and insert the content in Japanese and English...

The good thing about this is you don't need to do extra work to try and 
accomodate both languages on the same page. Also, you might consider 
inserting a link of *every* page to the same version of that page in the 
other language. This way it adds visibility and if at any time a person has 
trouble with the current language they are reading in they can always switch 
to the other one...

I guess the most important thing to keep in mind (for me anyway,) is 
consistency, make sure that the Japanese and English version are the same 
design-wise. The reason is this will add credibility to the site, make it 
easier for cross-lingual browsing and reduce your bandwidth to the minimum.

Dave


=========


greetings to all!

I dont presently have a web page, in fact I havent really bothered with
HTML for 4 or 5 years (I've had other fish to fry).

But recently I have been asked to help implement two different sites which
are meant to be bilingual.    Consequently I am reviewing HTML 4.01 to
catch up, and I am looking into resources on ISO 10646.

I would appreciate any suggestions or comments, including references (web
or print).

In terms of planning (before I have the latest HTML in mind), I would like
to know whether it is feasible to mix the writing systems for two languages
in the same pages, or if it is better to develop a double-site, where the
content is merely reproduced separately (i.e., with each page in it's own
language format).

The two projects I am preparing for are:

An English and Japanese site for a new business,

and

A Korean and English site for a non-profit organization.

Thanks in advance!

(Software suggestions will also be welcome, as well as advice on making the
non-western text more widely readable by the general audience)

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