eBay's Tower of Babel By Brian Cohen AuctionBytes.com
February 16, 2003
Everyone knows that eBay is a global community of Buyers and Sellers that converge upon the digital frontier to seamlessly buy and sell everything from Tchotchkes to Personal Strap-on Aircrafts. But this new frontier isn't as seamless as you might think.
eBay's growth hinges upon its ability to conduct transactions globally, where buyers and sellers can trade unfettered by the barriers of language. But not all eBay users are able to effectively interconnect and trade with one another. According to Global Reach http://www.glreach.com/globstats/index.php3, non-English speaking Internet users outnumber the number of English speaking Internet users.
To illustrate this phenomenon, let's search for a "Shirt" on eBay.
"191326 items found for shirt" @ 11:50 a.m. on 1/25/2003
So there should be approximately 191,326 Shirts on eBay right?
Well, er, not really. There are approximately 191,326 Shirts for sale by English-speaking eBay sellers. Let us cruise on over to eBay France at www.ebay.fr and search (Que recherchez -vous?) for "Chemise". There are 331 more shirts for sale. Sacre Bleu!
Stroll on over to eBay Germany "Der Weltweite Online-Marktplatz" at www.ebay.de and search (Was suchen Sie?) for "Hemd" and we yield an additional 11,561 shirts. Achtung! Try your own search with a little assistance of Altavista's Babelfish language converter at http://babelfish.altavista.com.
The following is eBay's official stand on language translation:
"If you do not speak the same language as the potential buyer, you may want to use translation software to translate key phrases. Some translation services are available free on the Internet, but many are not 100% accurate and eBay cannot guarantee their services. If you use such a service, provide simple, grammatically correct phrases free of abbreviations to maximize the chance of an understandable translation"
However, eBay may have something up their Cyber-sleeves. Meg Whitman made a speech back on August 15, 2000, that revealed plans for eBay congregants to communicate with one another globally through translation and currency conversion software, and that this software would be ready in 2 to 3 years. Currency conversion has been realized, and Paypal's Multinational Currencies has been recently implemented.
The next logical step is language conversion seamlessly integrated into the native tongue of the eBay user. We need not only the ability to send and receive the Euro in our PayPal accounts, but also the ability to speak German, French and Spanish at a click's notice. eBay knows this is vital for its growth, will lower barriers and will increase the number of auctions on its site exponentially. Additionally, Customer Relationship Management software with language translation software could have international users talking to one another via email (i.e., ask the Seller a question... Preguntar al vendedor en eBay Espana).
eBay is working with SDL International http://www.sdlintl.com, Trados http://www.trados.com and Idiom Technologies Inc. http://www.idiominc.com on foreign translation, and we just may see how eBay's relationship with these companies unfolds in the coming months. The LISA Global Strategies Summit USA (March 3-6) http://www.lisa.org/events/2003usa may provide a window into eBay's foreign translation strategy.
Carpe Diem eBay!
About the author:
Brian Cohen has been an active member of the eBay community since May 1998. He currently trades under the member name Bidofthis.com. His first AuctionBytes article was published in May 2002. Brian can be contacted through his website at http://www.bidofthis.com where he always has a "little Bid of This and little Bid of That."
