 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
Getting
the Pint right
When processed rice first appeared in England, the American exporter had overlooked
one small detail . . . the size of the British pint. English cooks who followed
the exporter's instructions watched their dinners turn to swill because they
had used their imperial 20-ounce pint in place of our less regal 16. Goes to demonstrate that making things useful abroad takes more than just wrapping them
in the local language.
For instance, it would be naive for us to translate our Morning Flight program into French and then proclaim it will work in France. Any number of French printers speak English and will have an easy time reading the labels. But not one of those printers measures paper in inches or quotes prices in American dollars!
Morning Flight could be fluent in French and still be useless in France if it didn't know millimeters and ISO sizes and how to count Euros. Still . . .
Getting
the Language right
The funniest joke in the world will fall on deaf ears
in Japan if it's told in Chinese. Translations are important, and with German built in as its second language, Morning Flight is bi-lingual now and will learn French, Spanish, Italian, and Portuguese
before long. But take a look at the quote screen below. As you can see by the metric measurements, A4 paper size, and localized currency, the program may already work in the country where you do.
Morning Flight at work here
March 2010
| Afghanistan | Denmark | Ireland | Netherlands Antilles | Spain |
| Albania | Dominican Republic | Israel | New Caledonia | Sri Lanka |
| Algeria | Ecuador | Italy | New Zealand | St. Kitts |
| Antigua | Egypt | Ivory Coast | Nigeria | Taiwan |
| Argentina | El Salvador | Jamaica | Norway | Tanzania |
| Australia | Estonia | Japan | Oman | Thailand |
| Austria | Ethiopia | Jordan | Pakistan | Tobago |
| Bahamas | Finland | Kenya | Papua New Guinea | Trinidad |
| Bahrain | France | Kuwait | Peru | Tunesia |
| Bangladesh | Germany | Latvia | Philippines | Turkey |
| Barbados | Ghana | Lebanon | Poland | U.S. Virgin Islands |
| Belgium | Gibraltar | Libya | Portugal | Uganda |
| Bolivia | Grand Caymans | Macedonia | Puerto Rico | United Arab Emirates |
| Brazil | Greece | Malawi | Qatar | United Kingdom |
| Bulgaria | Grenada | Malaysia | Romania | Ukraine |
| Canada | Guadeloupe | Maldives | Russia | USA |
| Cayman Islands | Guatemala | Malta | Saint Lucia | Venezuela |
| Chile | Holland | Mauritius | Saudi Arabia | Vietnam |
| China | Hong Kong | Mexico | Scotland | Yugoslavia |
| Costa Rica | Hungary | Morocco | Serbia | Zambia |
| Croatia | Iceland | Mozambique | Singapore | Zimbabwe |
| Cyprus | India | Namibia | Slovenia | |
| Czech Republic | Indonesia | Nepal | South Africa |