If there ever was a gigantic problem with the Web, it's words. English has dominated the medium for years, but Chinese, Spanish, Hindi and Arabic, along with other common world tongues, could soon displace English. As the Web mushrooms, huge slices of information will stay invisible to any part of the world that doesn't speak the language of origin.

As a small business, you could easily find yourself shut out if immigrants or foreign customers cannot reach you or learn about your products. Happily, the Web's builders have taken on language as the Holy Grail of programming tasks, and there are plenty of good resources to turn your pages into globalspeak as needed.

Action Steps
The best contacts and resources to help you get it done

If the gist is all that matters, go cheap

Dozens of machine-run sites will automatically translate your Web site, and there are low-cost cooperatives designed to help small companies get into a second or third language. Machines -- and unpaid non-professionals -- can make laughably bad mistakes, but in some cases it's not much of a problem.

I recommend: Some of the better-known machine translators include BabelFish, Google, WorldLingo, and Systran. If you can read a second language and want help getting your site translated, FreeLocalization offers to match Webmasters who exchange the service freely.

A step up for most static or slow-changing sites is localization

If your site changes rarely and serves mostly as a marketing tool, then consider the one-off expense of hiring a Web localization company. It will take your current Web presence and, effectively, make you another site in the second language.

I recommend: Some of the larger localization providers include Globalization Partners, WordLingo, Acclaro, and Lionbridge.

Consider the value of contract or staff translation

If your company must update frequently or completely replace information, like instructions or policies, it might be worthwhile to hire a translator full-time.

I recommend: Translators have really gone heavily into the Web. There are dozens of sites offering access to them, either by bid or on a contract basis. Some key sites for this include SDL, Linguist, American Translators Association, Translators Base and Elanex.

For heavy-duty corporate use, a CMS is probably the answer

You'll need a lot of programming background or have the talent to hire or contract IT help, but a content management system can make multiple language sites much easier to administer. They use a central database of information -- easily updated by your staff or offsite contractors -- to build Web pages on demand.

I recommend: There are dozens of software-driven, closed content systems. A good comparison can be made at CMSMatrix.org. A wide-open version of the CMS idea is the multi-editor wiki, a Web-driven model that is easy to use by non-programmers. The best multi-language example of that platform is Wikipedia itself.

Tips & Tactics

Helpful advice for making the most of this Guide

• •  Be prepared to spend on a decent translation. You'll need a translator and then a second native-language editor to polish the final product, if fluency is your target.
• •  It won't help to make a fancy Chinese Web site and put your company's phone number at the bottom if the operators answer in English only. Budget for sales response help in each new language, even if it's via call center.
• •  One simple tactic: Translate key documents once and create a PDF info-packet. Link to that from your main page and, at the very least, foreign-language customers can get a grip on who you are and what you offer.