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Smee
Joined: 24 Dec 2004
Location: Jeollanam-do
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 Posted: Sat Feb 04, 2006 5:59 am Post subject: "Poor Translation Mars Foreign Business" in SK. |
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Why are sales of Apple��s global bestseller iPod much lower than those of local-made MP3 players in South Korea? And why does U.S. giant Google struggle in the Korean Internet market and is less respected here than anywhere else? One big reason for such unpopularity of foreign brands in Korea is their poor translation into Korean on Web sites, user manuals and software programs, users say.
``When using Apple��s iTunes program, I��d rather use the English version than the Korean one even though I am not a native English speaker,���� said 31-year-old Lee Sang-hak, who owns an iPod MP3 player and an iMac desktop PC. ``It is easier to understand the English version because the Korean translation is unnatural and sometimes looks very awkward.����
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http://times.hankooki.com/lpage/200602/kt2006020317233910440.htm |
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chiaa
Joined: 23 Aug 2003
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| Posted: Sat Feb 04, 2006 6:10 am Post subject: |
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Yeah sure, that's the reason  |
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mindmetoo
Joined: 02 Feb 2004
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| Posted: Sat Feb 04, 2006 6:35 am Post subject: |
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My girlfriend and I were at Space 9. She wanted to buy an "airpad" for her laptop. There was one for 25,000 won and one for 30,000. She wanted to buy the more expensive one.
"Why?"
"The more expensive one is made in Korea. The cheaper one isn't." She muttered something about the inherent quality of Korean products...
She picked up the made-in-Korea one. It was scratched and damaged. She picked up the other made-in-Korea one. That one was scratched and damaged as well.
"Yes. Quality." I chirped.
Korea at times can be the perfect example why consumers should always buy the best product for the best price. Korean companies can turn out crappier more expensive products for their consumers and will always have a built in customer base willing to buy.
But I wonder if localized versions of Western products are half as bad with their Korean as Korean attempts at English in their products. Bravo your life! |
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chiaa
Joined: 23 Aug 2003
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| Posted: Sat Feb 04, 2006 8:07 am Post subject: |
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| mindmetoo wrote: |
My girlfriend and I were at Space 9. She wanted to buy an "airpad" for her laptop. There was one for 25,000 won and one for 30,000. She wanted to buy the more expensive one.
"Why?"
"The more expensive one is made in Korea. The cheaper one isn't." She muttered something about the inherent quality of Korean products...
She picked up the made-in-Korea one. It was scratched and damaged. She picked up the other made-in-Korea one. That one was scratched and damaged as well.
"Yes. Quality." I chirped.
Korea at times can be the perfect example why consumers should always buy the best product for the best price. Korean companies can turn out crappier more expensive products for their consumers and will always have a built in customer base willing to buy.
But I wonder if localized versions of Western products are half as bad with their Korean as Korean attempts at English in their products. Bravo your life! |
The wife and I were talking this tonight, but a bit differently. I was watching some tv program about Rain's concert in New York City and made a comment about it was total shit how he was going to take over the prominent role of US singer or something to that effect (it's late now so words are not flowing smoothly:D ). My basis for making this jab was:
1. 99.99% of the people at this show was Asian.
2. Of that 99.99%, 99.99% were women.
Having a mere 5% (pure guess) of a particular part of the US population is not a good stepping stone to taking over the US entertainment industry and in fact targeting this small percentage is only going to alienate the rest...
This got us to talking about our competitors and my loathing for them--making some kind of comment about them and Rain that well uhhh was not appreciated by the wife.
They both have all this money and all this power and I wonder why they do not spread out outside of the country and when they do, why they only target Koreans...
All of this brings me back to my first post where I was a bit sarcastic. My website is very very simple to use. It is so simple that most of my Korean customers (even though they speak English very well) have a very hard time using it while less than five percent of my western customers do. There is a different kind of logic that needs to be used in design and user interface when dealing with Koreans and Westerners. You cannot just flip flop some words and expect the same reactions . |
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Hollywoodaction
Joined: 02 Jul 2004
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| Posted: Sat Feb 04, 2006 11:18 am Post subject: Re: "Poor Translation Mars Foreign Business" in SK |
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| Smee wrote: |
| Quote: |
Why are sales of Apple��s global bestseller iPod much lower than those of local-made MP3 players in South Korea? And why does U.S. giant Google struggle in the Korean Internet market and is less respected here than anywhere else? One big reason for such unpopularity of foreign brands in Korea is their poor translation into Korean on Web sites, user manuals and software programs, users say.
``When using Apple��s iTunes program, I��d rather use the English version than the Korean one even though I am not a native English speaker,���� said 31-year-old Lee Sang-hak, who owns an iPod MP3 player and an iMac desktop PC. ``It is easier to understand the English version because the Korean translation is unnatural and sometimes looks very awkward.����
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http://times.hankooki.com/lpage/200602/kt2006020317233910440.htm |
It's not because I think Korean companies do an awful job of translating Korean to English on their products that I'm going to fall for that one. Sounds to me like someone is desperate for an excuse other than the obvious one.
Google is not poorly translated. Like Chiaa was saying, Koreans are generally expect to see convoluted websites with flashing menus that can be clicked. I suspect that's because many of them simply can't type very well. I'd say they simply dislike Google because it isn't Korean in the sense that it doesn't allow them to left-click to their heart's content without typing first (and it won't complete the search field for you like Korean search engines). |
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mindmetoo
Joined: 02 Feb 2004
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| Posted: Sat Feb 04, 2006 5:14 pm Post subject: |
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| chiaa wrote: |
The wife and I were talking this tonight, but a bit differently. I was watching some tv program about Rain's concert in New York City and made a comment about it was total *beep* how he was going to take over the prominent role of US singer or something to that effect (it's late now so words are not flowing smoothly:D ). |
Yeah unless suddenly middle America decides feminine looking Asian male singers who dance like Madonna are the new heart throbs, it just ain't going to happen. |
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Privateer
Joined: 31 Aug 2005
Location: Easy Street.
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| Posted: Sun Feb 05, 2006 5:16 am Post subject: Re: "Poor Translation Mars Foreign Business" in SK |
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| Smee wrote: |
| Quote: |
Why are sales of Apple��s global bestseller iPod much lower than those of local-made MP3 players in South Korea? And why does U.S. giant Google struggle in the Korean Internet market and is less respected here than anywhere else? One big reason for such unpopularity of foreign brands in Korea is their poor translation into Korean on Web sites, user manuals and software programs, users say.
``When using Apple��s iTunes program, I��d rather use the English version than the Korean one even though I am not a native English speaker,���� said 31-year-old Lee Sang-hak, who owns an iPod MP3 player and an iMac desktop PC. ``It is easier to understand the English version because the Korean translation is unnatural and sometimes looks very awkward.����
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http://times.hankooki.com/lpage/200602/kt2006020317233910440.htm |
Well now they know what it feels like to have your language mangled. |
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Privateer
Joined: 31 Aug 2005
Location: Easy Street.
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| Posted: Sun Feb 05, 2006 5:33 am Post subject: |
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There are a ton of great shopping, banking, chatting, gaming, and you-name-it sites on the Korean internet that I wish I could take advantage of but I'm excluded by my poor level of Korean. Koreans, not being so excluded, have very little use for a search engine like Google which will allow them to navigate a ton of unfamiliar non-Korean sites that are much less use to them in their daily lives than those they can easily find through portal sites like Daum. Sure they might use it to find a foreign website but that isn't going to generate a lot of traffic and hence Google isn't big here.
Basically, Google seems like it has the most sophisticated search engine technology to us but it doesn't offer Koreans anything they feel they need from the internet. That and the fact that it isn't Korean, of course... |
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dogbert
Joined: 29 Jan 2003
Location: Killbox 90210
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| Posted: Sun Feb 05, 2006 6:04 am Post subject: |
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| Privateer wrote: |
There are a ton of great shopping, banking, chatting, gaming, and you-name-it sites on the Korean internet that I wish I could take advantage of but I'm excluded by my poor level of Korean. Koreans, not being so excluded, have very little use for a search engine like Google which will allow them to navigate a ton of unfamiliar non-Korean sites that are much less use to them in their daily lives than those they can easily find through portal sites like Daum. Sure they might use it to find a foreign website but that isn't going to generate a lot of traffic and hence Google isn't big here.
Basically, Google seems like it has the most sophisticated search engine technology to us but it doesn't offer Koreans anything they feel they need from the internet. That and the fact that it isn't Korean, of course... |
You are also hampered by not being a Korea citizen and having a Korean ID number.
Koreans go to great lengths to be exclusive. Would that U.S. sites excluded Koreans as well. |
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chiaa
Joined: 23 Aug 2003
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| Posted: Sun Feb 05, 2006 6:29 am Post subject: |
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| Privateer wrote: |
There are a ton of great shopping, banking, chatting, gaming, and you-name-it sites on the Korean internet that I wish I could take advantage of but I'm excluded by my poor level of Korean. Koreans, not being so excluded, have very little use for a search engine like Google which will allow them to navigate a ton of unfamiliar non-Korean sites that are much less use to them in their daily lives than those they can easily find through portal sites like Daum. Sure they might use it to find a foreign website but that isn't going to generate a lot of traffic and hence Google isn't big here.
Basically, Google seems like it has the most sophisticated search engine technology to us but it doesn't offer Koreans anything they feel they need from the internet. That and the fact that it isn't Korean, of course... |
Your ignorance is not letting you see how things really are. Basically every Korean page in Korean is on the google search engine. If you did a liitle bit of reading on what a "spider" is, you would understand why that is the case.
Now the question is if Korean web developers take advantage of how Google indexes pages. I can tell you right now that they consider it, but it is not what they consider primary when designing a website. A SEO in America will consider the design and how it affects search engine results. If you do a seach on naver for ����, you are going to get the following results (in order) under the following headers provided by naver:
1. Sponser link
2. Power Keyword
3. Plus Pro
4. Dictionary
5. Ji Shik in (I believe the search engines Q/A forum)
6. Category Thier pay directory.
7. Best Site
Above five more headers.
Numbers 1,2,3,6,7 are all spots that companies must pay in order to be listed. They have it down to a science so that you pay about 80 Won per click, which just happens to be 10 won below Google's minmum pay per click price and overtures service as well.
Not until you get down to the tenth or eleventh header do you get to any kind of listing that comes due to popularity of links or traffic. It's all about money and the price you pay for placement. Furthermore, when typing a search string into the search box on any of the korean search engines, there is an auto complete function that helps you figure out which keyword to use. Why do you think that is?
Google is a much much better search Engine than any of the Korean engines as they do list results by popularity. They do have their own pay per click system, but the results come on the right side of the page and do not affect the rankings of the results (the korean pages do not affect the rankings, but their rankings results--the header mentioned earlier-- are so far down the page that no one ever sees them, while googles are at the top left where they should be). Korean netziens like to be led (or you can aruge have been trained) to results, not search for the results. You will have hard pressed to find a Korean that has the foggiest idea what a Boolean search is.
Before you write something you really know nothing about, do a bit of research. You are misleading people. |
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Privateer
Joined: 31 Aug 2005
Location: Easy Street.
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| Posted: Mon Feb 06, 2006 9:56 am Post subject: |
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| dogbert wrote: |
| Privateer wrote: |
There are a ton of great shopping, banking, chatting, gaming, and you-name-it sites on the Korean internet that I wish I could take advantage of but I'm excluded by my poor level of Korean. Koreans, not being so excluded, have very little use for a search engine like Google which will allow them to navigate a ton of unfamiliar non-Korean sites that are much less use to them in their daily lives than those they can easily find through portal sites like Daum. Sure they might use it to find a foreign website but that isn't going to generate a lot of traffic and hence Google isn't big here.
Basically, Google seems like it has the most sophisticated search engine technology to us but it doesn't offer Koreans anything they feel they need from the internet. That and the fact that it isn't Korean, of course... |
You are also hampered by not being a Korea citizen and having a Korean ID number. |
Yeah but that's easily fixed by just borrowing one from a Korean friend.  |
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Privateer
Joined: 31 Aug 2005
Location: Easy Street.
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| Posted: Mon Feb 06, 2006 11:07 am Post subject: |
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chiaa: thanks for displaying your superior technical knowledge and calling me ignorant. You've convinced me that Google is the superior search engine...except I already knew that, and was careful to point it out in my post (the line about Google being 'sophisticated'). If you want to prove you know more about computers than I do, I'll willingly concede it. Your post was quite informative too. But it didn't really address the point I made in my post, which was Google doesn't fulfil a need here, or at least a perceived need.
You said it yourself: Koreans like to be led to a result, they expect flashing menus and complicated sites, and a whole different kind of interface. So Google loses on that score. Google wins on search results but the point is sites like naver and daum fulfil Korean information and entertainment needs notwithstanding. |
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dogbert
Joined: 29 Jan 2003
Location: Killbox 90210
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| Posted: Mon Feb 06, 2006 5:26 pm Post subject: |
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| Privateer wrote: |
| dogbert wrote: |
| Privateer wrote: |
There are a ton of great shopping, banking, chatting, gaming, and you-name-it sites on the Korean internet that I wish I could take advantage of but I'm excluded by my poor level of Korean. Koreans, not being so excluded, have very little use for a search engine like Google which will allow them to navigate a ton of unfamiliar non-Korean sites that are much less use to them in their daily lives than those they can easily find through portal sites like Daum. Sure they might use it to find a foreign website but that isn't going to generate a lot of traffic and hence Google isn't big here.
Basically, Google seems like it has the most sophisticated search engine technology to us but it doesn't offer Koreans anything they feel they need from the internet. That and the fact that it isn't Korean, of course... |
You are also hampered by not being a Korea citizen and having a Korean ID number. |
Yeah but that's easily fixed by just borrowing one from a Korean friend. |
Can you manage your finances online using a fake name and number? |
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chiaa
Joined: 23 Aug 2003
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| Posted: Mon Feb 06, 2006 8:26 pm Post subject: |
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| Privateer wrote: |
chiaa: thanks for displaying your superior technical knowledge and calling me ignorant. You've convinced me that Google is the superior search engine...except I already knew that, and was careful to point it out in my post (the line about Google being 'sophisticated'). If you want to prove you know more about computers than I do, I'll willingly concede it. Your post was quite informative too. But it didn't really address the point I made in my post, which was Google doesn't fulfil a need here, or at least a perceived need.
You said it yourself: Koreans like to be led to a result, they expect flashing menus and complicated sites, and a whole different kind of interface. So Google loses on that score. Google wins on search results but the point is sites like naver and daum fulfil Korean information and entertainment needs notwithstanding. |
You see you are very wrong once again. Koreans need a search engine like google because the few companies that have the most money are the ones controling the search engine's results. Thus, choice is really taken away from the Korean population as the elite control what results are shown. The search engines are getting richer and richer which means they have more money to pay for branding and manipulating the rusults even further will be even easier as their image will be great even though what they offer is not.
Naver and Daum fulfill the needs of people just wanting to read the latest news and checking out their friend's website. They 100% fail in a B2B situation and if not for the few popular price comparison sites out there, they would completley fail. I needed to purchase new bookselves. In English I found results in one minute. It took three Korean employees over a month to find what I was looking for (they were not looking constantly, but took several shots over a month long period). I barely speak Korean and I have done searches faster on google Korea than an employee has done on Daum or Naver.
I have mentioned earlier that Koreans have hard time using our site. Well once they speak to someone and get walked through a bit, they find it very refreshing.
I called you ignorant because from my perspective in what you are talking about you are. Being ignorant is not always derogatory. There are many many things I am ignorant about but this is not one of them. Trust me, I have lived over here for over five years, am tech savvy, know and understand Koreans, and own a Korean brick and mortor as well as an internet start up that grows every month. |
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J.B. Clamence
Joined: 15 Jan 2003
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| Posted: Mon Feb 06, 2006 8:53 pm Post subject: |
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This story reminds me of how once during trade negotiations between the US and Japan, the negotiators from the Japanese side argued that foreign-made skis are not suitable for Japanese snow.  |
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