A service meant for people everywhere may need to plan for many languages from the start. One recent launch offers an example.

The Library of Congress release announced: "Paris, Washington D.C.—The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) and 32 partner institutions today launched the World Digital Library". The launch took place at UNESCO Headquarters at an event co-hosted by UNESCO Director-General Koïchiro Matsuura and Librarian of Congress James H. Billington.

Infrastructure for a Global Audience

The release described two layers of language. The World Digital Library functions in seven languages―Arabic, Chinese, English, French, Portuguese, Russian and Spanish―and includes content in more than 40 languages.

For people who design products, the difference between the languages a service works in and the languages its content comes in may be worth noticing. In general, a small set of interface languages might let more people find their way around, even when the material itself is in many more languages.

Distributed Technical Execution

The release also named a partner abroad. Technical assistance was provided by the Bibliotheca Alexandrina of Alexandria, Egypt.

One reading is that large shared projects can draw on help from several places. A partner with different experience might add something that one team alone would not, though working across borders may also bring its own costs.

Perhaps reaching people everywhere depends less on putting material online than on planning, early, for the languages they read.

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