Google Translate and the Localization Issue

As readers of this blog will know from prior posts (e.g. here and here), I've been very interested for a long time in the powerful role of language and culture in shaping media behavior in Korea.  Preference for the Korean language is one of the big reasons that Naver continues to control such a large share of search, despite its limited scope when compared with Google. Today's alerts brought links to two very interesting sources.

The first is an article in The Independent by David Bellos entitled "How Google Translate Works."   Rather than trying to develop an algorithm to discover the meaning (syntax and vocabulary) of a particular passage, Google uses a statistical approach that leverages its vast collection of written language and translations of the same writings into many languages.  As Bellos notes,"It uses vast computing power to scour the internet in the blink of an eye, looking for the expression in some text that exists alongside its paired translation."  The entire article is well worth reading.

Another source is the Localization Industry Daily, published by Cloudwords.  That publication provides a number of interesting avenues through which to explore the burgeoning localization industry.    More on this topic in future posts.

It seems obvious that Google is leading the effort to develop machine translation, with some gratifying results. However, it is equally apparent that the industry has a long way to go and that its most difficult challenges lie here in Asia, given the difficulty of translating Asian languages to and from English and other Latin-based languages.

NationwideTest of State-run English Exam

As reported in The Korea Times, a pilot test for the National English Ability Test or NEAT was held in Seoul and 17 cities across the nation on Saturday.  The domestic test, designed to compete with TOEIC and TOEFL, will officially start next year and the government hopes that it will be used as key data for universities and companies to recruit students and employees.  A total of 4,000 applicants took the test, which consisted of four sections -- reading comprehension, listening comprehension, speaking and writing.  NEAT offers three levels of tests, one for adults to evaluate business skills, and the other two for  high school students. The tests have been developed by the Korea Chamber of Commerce & Industry, Korea University, Seoul National University, Sookmyung Women’s University and Hankuk University of Foreign Studies.

Korean Social Networking Trends in the Smartphone Era

This is a follow-on to the previous post and earlier posts about social networking in Korea.  The Joongang Daily has an interesting article with data from Metrix showing what happened to social network service traffic in Korea during the year following arrival of the Apple iPhone and the so-called "smart phone shock" here.  As shown in the accompanying graphic (click on it to see a larger version), although Korea's homegrown Cyworld still has far more members than Facebook or Twitter, the latter two services have relatively more pageviews---many more per user!

There are several main reasons for the relative success of Facebook and Twitter in the face of a well-established Cyworld that was already dominant in the Korean market and had operated here for nearly half a decade before Facebook was even invented in the U.S.   First, Cyworld was designed as a Korean language service, with Korean users in mind.   It failed in its efforts to penetrate such international markets as the U.S., Germany, Taiwan and Japan.  Second, while Facebook and Twitter took advantage of the mobile broadband and smartphone revolution, Cyworld neglected Apple's iPhone and the new Android phones, instead concentrating on the outmoded Windows mobile platform.  Finally, the internet is inherently a global phenomenon.  Such SNS services as Facebook and Twitter allow networking throughout the world, across most national borders.  As the Joongang Daily article points out, Cyworld's image of being a Korean company rather than an international one was a big obstacle.

Twitter Now Available in Hangul 트위터 한국어 서비스 시작

As reported in the Joongang Daily and widely noted elsewhere, Twitter has launched a Korean-language service, with some fanfare.  The co-founder of Twitter held a press conference in Seoul to announce this development.

As readers of this blog are well aware, I'm very interested in the role of language in Korea's remarkable digital development.  If you are new and doubt this, just do a search for "language" using the Search This Blog feature to the right and see how many entries turn up!  Or, consider the following.

• South Korea is the world's most highly networked nation, yet it is also one of four countries in the world where Google does not have a substantial share of the search market.  Why?  Because of the strength of Naver, which is a Korean-developed, Korean-language-based intranet of sorts. (see one of many earlier posts).


• Language was a major factor in explaining the long-delayed arrival of the Apple iPhone in the South Korean market.  In important respects, it is only because of the "iPhone shock" or, more broadly the "smartphone shock" that Facebook and Twitter are gaining market share here.  However, Cyworld remains by far the dominant social networking service in the Korean market, in no small part because it is a Korean-language service, designed from the ground up for a Korean market.

Despite the phenomenal growth of the internet and the emergence of "smart" digital media, language remains a basic element of communication flows and patterns, and nowhere is this more evident than inside Korea and among Koreans worldwide.  The surprising element is that so many non-Korean companies actually think they can succeed in Korea while using only English or other languages.

Facebook versus The Korea Communications Commission

The Korea Communications Commission (KCC) is in the news again, throughout the tech blogs and even in the mainstream press around the globe.  The KCC, formed in 2008 by the incoming Lee Myung Bak administration, is South Korea's top communications policy and regulatory agency.  This time it is in the news for issuing what The Register called a "stern warning" to Facebook about its privacy policies.

As reported by IDG, the KCC sent a letter to Facebook indicating that it is in breach of South Korean data privacy laws and needs to do a better job of getting consent from users when getting their personal information.  The KCC said the U.S.-based company has 30 days to respond to the complaint, so this may be a developing story.

Much of the blog and mainstream press coverage of this development, while interesting, fails to convey adequately the following obvious points.

• Traditional conceptions of privacy in Korea, and in Korean language web content and services, are not at all the same as ideas about privacy in the West and other parts of the world.


• Social networking in Korea, epitomized by Cyworld, and social networking in the U.S., led by Facebook, have significant differences.  As noted in earlier posts, even though Cyworld swept through the Korean internet experience almost half a decade before Facebook appeared, it cannot simply be treated as the Korean equivalent of Facebook (as noted in earlier posts on social networking.)


• Notably, Facebook did not have much of a presence at all in Korea until the arrival of Apple's iPhone about one year ago.


• Finally, it seems to me that the KCC complaint to Facebook represents another excellent illustration of the global scope of the internet.  While the activities of Facebook impinge upon Korean society and Korea's laws, the question of what impact the KCC complaint will ultimately have on Facebook's behavior is an interesting one.   Some months earlier, when the Korean government sought to regulate how users could log  in to Google's Korean Youtube site, that company reacted by closing the site.  Subsequently Korean users of Youtube flocked to sites hosted in other countries to make use of the service.

More on Social Networking Trends in Korea

The Joongang Daily has an interesting article today dealing with the problems of security on social networking sites in Korea.  It quotes a Facebook representative in Korea as saying that Koreans have a relatively low awareness of social network security.   I would suggest that this is part of the broader cultural differences in thinking about and using social networking sites, as discussed in earlier posts.   Cyworld is dramatically different from Facebook with the latter being introduced over four years later in the U.S.

According to eMarketer, 61.4 percent of Internet users worldwide have an SNS account, up from 51.4 percent in 2009 and 45.1 percent in 2008. And it turns out that people spend more time on social media Web sites than they do e-mailing or Web surfing. Those surveyed spent 4.6 hours a week on SNS sites, compared to 4.4 hours for e-mail.    Here in Korea, according to the Korea Communications Commission, 65.7 percent of the population uses SNS sites.

The article notes that the very concept of social networking is about sharing personal information.  However, there are limits, as most people would not want credit card or certain employment-related information publicized over the internet.   In Korea, as shown by the accompanying graphic, Cyworld is still the most popular "social networking" web site (click on graphic to see a larger version).

Online attacks have been a common occurrence in Korea, with the most famous being “dog poop girl.” In 2005, a photo of a girl who left the subway train without picking up her dog’s waste was spread on the Internet. Korean netizens revealed her identity as well as her school, and she ended up dropping out in disgrace.

Although the graphic in this post shows the current dominance of Cyworld, it should be noted that Facebook and Twitter are experiencing much more rapid growth with the booming growth of mobile broadband and smartphones.  This all amounts to many future challenges for Korean consumers, the government and the legal system here as South Korea adjusts to the realities and the security risks of social networking.

Social Networking and Korean Social Networking: The Rise of Twitter and Facebook

In retrospect it is clear that "social networking" via the internet arrived in Korea, in the form of Cyworld, almost half a decade before Facebook appeared in the United States.  However, as pointed out in an excellent  article in The Korea Times, Cyworld's "mini homepages" were tailored for users seeking to maintain a closed and controlled network of immediate friends.   I assume part of Cyworld's great appeal here in Korea is that it naturally extended the Korean penchant to form close networks among classmates,  family or friends from the same hometown or business.

It is most interesting that Facebook and Twitter, along with Google to some extent, only began to seriously penetrate South Korea's market with the arrival of Apple's iPhone about a year ago.  According to local market research, the number of visitors to Facebook and Twitter reached 7.38 million and 8.65 million respectively, during the month of September.  This represented a 650 percent year-on-year increase for Facebook and a 580 percent jump for Twitter.  Cyworld saw its visitors drop nearly 12 percent over the same period.

In response to these developments, local services such as Cyworld and Naver are introducing their own alternatives.  In the case of Cyworld, one such service is C-Log, a Facebook resembling service.  Time will tell about the success of these services, but as prior posts on this blog have argued, (for example here, here, or here.  Better yet, search this blog for "language") language and culture are extremely important factors in shaping Korea's information society and this reality is unlikely to change anytime soon.

Are Koreans Less Social than Other Nationalities? More on Social Networking

I haven't touched on the topic of social networking lately, but it is all over the news.   One set of articles that caught my eye were those that mentioned a new TNS study of social networking in 46 countries around the world.  A headline in the Chosun Ilbo declared "Koreans Among Least Social in Online Networking."  That caught my attention for the simple reason that "least social" is the last thing that would come to my mind to describe Koreans.  "Most social," perhaps, or "More social..."  According to the Digital Life report released by the British market research firm TNS, Koreans had an average of 50 friends in their social networks, ranking 44th among 46 countries studied.

Overall, the Digital Life study noted such broad trends as social networking sites overtaking e-mail in popularity and the the growing use of digital sources for news around the world.   It would be interesting to know how much of the first trend is due to the seemingly uncontrollable growth of spam and malware.

The suggestion that Koreans are "less social" may have to do with the structure of the study (were Western, and English language sites weighted equally with Cyworld in the study?), or it may simply require further explanation.   After all, most Koreans were experimenting with their own version of "social networking" via Cyworld about four years before Facebook hit the market in the U.S. The finding may simply reflect the close-knit family-classmate-friend nature of Korean interpersonal networks or the linguistic and homogeneity of the information culture here.    Comments on the TNS finding are welcome.

"iPhone Woes for Foreigners" Symptom of a Larger Problem

I started my newspaper reading this morning with an article in yesterday's Joongang Daily entitled "iPhone Woes for Foreigners."  Since I am a foreigner living in Korea and I recently purchased an iPhone, I read the article with great interest.  I've lived and worked in Korea continuously for the past 13 years and my wife is Korean.  Nevertheless, it was NOT EASY to purchase an iPhone here.

My understanding is that there are approximately one million expatriate workers in Korea now, and that the number is increasing.  Furthermore, I'm reading a lot these days about how the Korean government is seeking to attract not only foreign investment, but more foreign workers to Korea.  Under these circumstances, it seems counter-productive to make it difficult for foreigners to purchase an iPhone.   Those of you interested in the details of this matter can read the Joongang Daily article.

I simply want to note that the iPhone situation is part of a much larger problem relating to language, culture and mind-set.  Think, for example, of the generally dismal state of banking services for foreigners in Korea.  Alternatively, think of the heavy reliance on and satisfaction with Korean language web content and applications (over 70 percent of Koreans using Naver when Korean-language Google is superior for many purposes).

My recommendation:  Korea should begin to offer special services, across the board, for foreigners who are here teaching English, teaching other subjects, working in industry, or otherwise contributing to the economy and society.  If the worry is simply that foreigners will leave Korea with unpaid bills, it seems to me that could be handled for different categories of customers, in accord with the risk, by using a REFUNDABLE deposit system.

Google's Search Market Share and "Walled Gardens"

A comment on my previous post asked why I included the Czech Republic, along with China, Russia and South Korea, as "walled gardens." A good question.

I based the reference largely upon a September 16, 2008 article in The Financial Times, entitled "Google still struggling to conquer outposts," which included a non-Google map of the world as an interactive graphic. The article used Szenam, Baidu, Yandex, Naver and Yahoo in Japan as "local success stories." What they all have in common, according to the article, is that they (1) invested earlier and developed technologies that work with (2) the local languages.

The term "walled garden" may not be the best to describe what is happening in all of these countries. For example, China is undoubtedly the most aggressive of these countries in governmental efforts to filter, censor and control the internet. However, in the case of Korea, I believe that the overwhelming preference for Korean language, together with the fact that Naver does not really search the internet, as Google's bots do, effectively walls off most consumers here from using most of the content and applications that are out there on the web. With the arrival of the iPhone tomorrow and Android phones soon to follow, that situation may be about to change.

Google Korea to "Koreanize" its Home Page

The Korea Times yesterday notes that Google Korea plans to "Koreanize" its home page!   The article notes that Naver has a 66 percent share of the search market and Daum is in second place with 20 percent.  Meanwhile, Google has only 2.2 percent of the Korean search market.  The article also points out that Google's strength has been simplicity, but that now it is ready to compromise that to make its web page more attractive to Korean users who "have grown accustomed to fancy websites crowded with features."  The article then proceeds to discuss the load time factor, or how long it takes Google's home page to load.  Everyone knows that Google favors speed.   Number three of its "Ten Things" states that "Fast is better than slow."

All of this is interesting, but I don't think it gets to the central point of explaining why Google has such a minuscule market share in Korea.  For insight into that, do a search of this blog for "Google" and read one of my earlier posts on the topic, including this one.    I'd like to repeat some of the main points.

• Naver is not really an internet search engine, since it searches only Korean language materials and ignores most of the information on the worldwide web.


• Korea is one of four countries in the world, including China, Russia and the Czech Republic, that pursue this walled garden approach to so-called "internet search"  Coincidentally, while the rest of the world was enthusiastically adopting an innovation called the Apple iPhone, Korea was content to use its own, Korean-language only mobile services for two and a half years before bring in the iPhone to this market.


• The popularity of Naver versus Google obviously has a great deal to do with language and culture.


• Conclusion:   "Koreanizing" its home page will not do much for Google Korea's market share.  Language, culture and mindset issues are never solved that easily.   Perhaps a more focused approach, simply telling Korean consumers that there is a whole world wide web of English and other language information out there would be more helpful.

Search, Blogs and Social Networking in Korean Cyberspace

A headline in today's Korea Times declares that "Daum Challenges Naver, Cyworld in Blog Battle."   The basic premise of the article is that web portals are increasingly relying upon user-created content to attract traffic.  Since acquiring Tistory blog services from Tatter & Company (TNC) in 2007, Daum's blog services have increased in popularity and are gaining ground on Naver, the market leader in blogging services.

It turns out that the web traffic reports that measure the popularity of blogs, also show that Cyworld, South Korea's leading social networking site attracts a lot of web traffic.  Daum and Naver both offer search services, whereas Cyworld is not a major competitor in this area.

It seems to me that in search, blogs and social networking you have three very different kinds of web services.  Although the Korea Times article compares the "blogging services" of each, Naver is basically a search engine, Daum is a web portal with search and other capabilities, and Cyworld is a social networking site, a la "Second Life." Search is a basic function that helps people locate the information they seek in the flood of information produced on the internet.  A blog is a way of publishing one's own information on the internet and networking with others interested in those topics.  Social networking has less to do with publishing anything and much more to do with simply socializing in a 21st century manner.

Because of their different origins and emphases it is extremely difficult to compare web traffic to the three sites compared in this article.  By their very nature, they are inherently aiming at different market segments to generate their traffic.

Korean Search Engines to Separate Advertising, Legitimate Results

On Thursday of last week, the Korean Communications Commission announced that internet portal sites will be required to identify advertising links separately from information links on search engine results pages to avoid confusing consumers.  I found this most interesting since it added support to arguments I made in two earlier posts (read the first here , read the second here ) explaining why Google must succeed here in Korea.  I also wrote a letter to the editor of Joongang Ilbo on this topic.

The Internet Changes Rituals for Chuseok

The universal availability of the internet in South Korea is beginning to change how some families approach the rituals assoicated with Chuseok, Korea's harvest moon festival.  According to an article in the Korea Times, the Chuseok holidays extend three days this year from Sept. 13 to 15. But weeks prior to the holidays, families have already started their trip to their ancestors' tombs to hold a ritual, in order to avoid traffic jams during the holidays. Last weekend, most highways were jammed with those trying to pay an early visit to their ancestors. But even ``smarter'' holidaymakers opt out of congestions by using ``beolcho,'' or grave weeding services.  It is easy to find such services on the internet.  Likewise, there are internet-based services to prepare all of the food required for family gatherings at Chuseok, a chore that used to cause housewives to suffer from "holiday sickness," even before the holiday.

Google Translate Tool Added to This Blog

For the convenience of many Koreans who view this site, and other visitors from around the globe, I've added the Google Translate tool in the right-hand navigation area. Just choose 한국어 or another language from the pop-up menu and the page will automatically be translated for you. As you all know, machine translation is far from perfect and has a long way to go. However, it seems to be improving, and it offers a useful starting point for translating any of these posts into Korean. I hope you enjoy using this service and would appreciate any comments.

Cyworld and Social Networking in South Korea

The Plus 8 Star website, Benjamin Joffe, CEO, has some very useful reports on social networking in Asia, including a report on Cyworld, South Korea's leading social networking site.  A report, Inside Cyworld:  Best Practices from South Korea's Leading Online Community, provides a nice overview of social networking in South Korea.  The report notes that the internet in South Korea is dominated by three major portals:  Naver, Nate.com (Cyworld) and Daum.  Yahoo Korea is the only foreign-owned website in the top fifteen. As shown in the accompanying graphic, seven of the top 15 Internet sites by traffic, are general portals and four are online game sites. (click on the graphic to see a full size version)

Leakage of Private Information a Major Problem

According to an article in the Korea Times, the unauthorized leaking of private information continues to be a major problem in South Korea. According to a member of the ruling Grand National Party, ".. unauthorized officials at public firms had searched and even leaked sensitive private information on numerous citizens.

He said officials at the National Health Insurance Corp. had inspected more than 12,000 citizens' private information such as home address, annual income and health conditions between 2002 and May this year, adding such illegalities have been rampant at the National Pension Service as well. Among the victims are famous entertainers and politicians including Bae Yong-joon, Kim Tae-hee and even President Lee Myung-bak. Males searched the data to check whether their girl friends had an abortion. Employees collected home addresses to dole out wedding invitation cards. Some workers sold a pile of such information to private financial companies."

"A recent Korea Information Security Agency (KISA) report showed that of 700 public offices' Web sites, 54.1 percent or 379 were highly vulnerable to leaks. The report stated KISA collected more than 67,000 social security numbers through the Internet homepages." The social security numbers referred to in the Korea Times article are actually national citizen's ID numbers, the rough Korean equivalent of a U.S. social security number, but arguably even more personal and confidential than a social security number.

The Korea Times article also notes that the government is updating regulations to prevent private information leakage on public institutes' Web sites. It also plans to spend $700 million to install anti-hacking tools on them. A new law will mandate every public and private organization handling private information to encode subscribers' information such as bank accounts, social security (citizen's national ID) numbers, IDs and passwords.

The web site of Korea Information Security Agency (KISA) is a useful source of information regarding all aspects of internet security, including SPAM, identity theft, electronic certificates and privacy issues. Unfortunately, the English side of the web site has not been updated, for the most part, since 2006. However, it is still worth a visit.

Google Korea and the Future of Search in Korea

The dominance of Naver, Daum and Empas in the South Korean search market, along with the failure thusfar of Google to garner much market share here, has caught the attention of internet-industry watchers around the world. It is illustrated by the accompanying graphic generated by a search of Google Trends (click on graphic to see a full-size version).  How can it be, many analysts note, that  Google is struggling in the nation with the world's most advanced broadband internet infrastructure?  The answer is largely to be found in language and culture.   Naver is less a search engine than a social-networking internet portal.   It doesn't search the internet.  Instead, it relies on a growing database of Korean-language only material in order to answer queries by Koreans.  As a Korean colleague with considerable internet industry experience told me, "when Koreans search on Naver, they simply want to know what other Koreans are thinking."   Or perhaps they simply want an answer in their own language, and Naver is extremely successful in providing such information.  This explains why its "Knowledge-in" feature is one of the most popular parts of the site.

In broader, more global terms, the very strength of Naver is probably its weakness.  Because it was built by Koreans, for Koreans and in the Korean language, it serves them extraordinarily well for certain purposes.   However, for the same reason, it probably will not do as well in North America, Europe and other international markets.  Also, even for certain purposes here in Korea, Google is superior to Naver.  One example that comes to mind is the many students and parents who are looking for information about study abroad in English speaking countries.  In most instances, they will find more up-to-date information, in both English and Korean, by using Google as their primary search tool.  They will also avoid the pitfall of being overly influenced by "sponsored links" and the web promotion of private study-abroad agencies who pay to sponsor those links.  So, for the benefit of Koreans themselves as well as the future integration of Korea into global cyberspace, we should all hope that Google succeeds here, at least moderately.  More on this topic in future posts.

Social Effects of New Communications: Digital Alzheimers?

The English edition of the Chosun Ilbo today carried news of a new malady, termed "digital Alzheimers."  A doctor with a large university hospital said, “There are no statistics, but the number of young workers who visit hospitals for forgetfulness counseling is definitely on the rise.”  Experts say more and more workers in their 20s and 30s suffer from forgetfulness due to the flood of information that assaults them in the office and their growing dependency on digital devices. Some seek treatment in hospitals when the symptoms get worse. Doctors even have a name for it: Digital Alzheimer’s Disease, a condition they say now afflict modern urbanites just like migraine or insomnia. Somehow, from my personal experience I can identify with the "flood of information" part of the argument, and also the increasing dependency on digital devices.   More on this one in later posts.

Korean Communications Companies Going Global

An interesting article in the Korea Times recently pointed out that, for Korean mobile operators, the future challenge may lie in going global. The article notes that "In Korea, over 90% of the population now have mobile phones, and worldwide, the demand for mobiles grows not by the year, but by the day. For most mobile providers, it is sink or swim time, as successful mobile operators from other countries are now getting involved in overseas mergers and buyouts, or launching their own services abroad."



With the local Korean market for mobile communication services being saturated, it would stand to reason that companies seeking continued growth will have to achieve it through either (1) introducing more advanced, value added services or (2) expanding internationally.

While the Korea Times article focuses on mobile operators, the question can be applied to communications businesses more generally. When this is done, it becomes apparent that such companies as Naver, Daum or Empas may find it very difficult to expand internationally because their services have been designed for and within a Korean-language media context. The question of "going global" also needs to be applied to such companies as OhMyNews, which began as a Korean-language effort at "citizen's journalism" and now has an English edition.