Globalization: Sink or Swim

The Internet is changing the business world, and one of its greatest impacts is in unifying many countries' markets. It has become as easy to sell halfway across the world as it is to sell across the street. Indeed, the world has been shrunk to a very small size... and placed on a monitor in front of your PC.

Many people are seeing the logic in dealing with the global market through multilingual communications. In the same way that we in Europe saw the need for breaking down country boundaries in the last few decades, forming the European Union. The only barrier to success is language differences.

The drive for globalization is being promoted through more free trade so that we can ultimately have global integration 24 hours a day, across 24 time-zones and into cyberspace. If your company has any competitor in any other country, you have no choice but to take globalization and translation seriously. Very seriously, before your competitors do.

The origins of how the Internet and globalization work together in today's world can be found in the past.

The current movement towards globalization is an extension of an earlier era of globalization that ended with World War I. Great Britain was the hub of globalization at that time: With the invention of the steamships, telegraphs, railways and eventually telephones, it is safe to say that this first era of globalization, before World War I, began in England and shrank the world from being 'large' to being 'medium'. Now, we have the next round of globalization, thanks to the Internet, starting in the early '90s.

In summary...

The modern internet is made up of unknown consumers sitting behind computer screens all over the globe, moving their money around, buying goods, or trading on the Internet from their homes or offices. It also consists of the big multinational corporations who now spread their factories around the world, constantly shifting them to the most efficient, low-cost producers. This e-population has grown, so much so that today it is becoming the primary source of world capital.

The pro and cons of globalization - So to thrive in today's globalization system a company has to join this e-population. It has to understand all languages and customs. Internet users love all the liberal, free-market rules. Those companies that join will reap the rewards for the next 100 years. Those that choose to ignore the new world, and do not translate their sales material and websites, will do so at their peril.

The only way companies will be able to reach out to the e-population is by speaking to them in their own language. Translation is no longer a by-product of business; it is becoming one of the most important business tools for buliding future growth.

Welcome to the new world.