Poor English Web Sites Puzzle Foreigners
By Jane Han
Staff Reporter
Click away at the English Web sites of a few random Korean corporations and you will be amazed at how so many are self-claimed industry leaders if not ``world's best.''
``Many of the Web pages seem to have loaded words that actually take away from the company's credibility if not given actual figures to support their claim,'' said Matthew Pike, a Boston-based online communications specialist, who reviewed some 10 to 15 English version pages of mid- to large-size local firms.
However, he added that some of the multinational firms' Internet sites are well made with a good level of sophistication.
``Global companies like Samsung, Hyundai and LG provide quite an in-depth level of information through clear and comprehensive expression,'' said Pike, who has done work with Chinese, Japanese and other Asian businesses to transform their online face into English versions.
As a growing number of companies are opening their global network channels to invite foreign business opportunities, presenting an attractive Web site not only in their native language but also in English has become a crucial task for enterprises.
Even though bigger names are more likely to have flawless wording and looks, there are still instances where awkward expressions are used.
``Awkward expressions aren't caught through grammar or spell checks, so it's a lot more tricky for non-English speakers to tighten these points,'' said an English editor for a Seoul-based non-profit business organization.
She said because there are only a limited number of editors who are native speakers, it's difficult at times to thoroughly look through all the content from various divisions.
An example of an often misused word is ``challenge,'' she pointed out, explaining, ``if you say `challenging person,' it carries a negative connotation, but the original Korean text means `those who overcome challenges.'''
``Greatest,'' ``leading,'' ``best,'' and ``first'' are also some adjectives that are overly used throughout many pages.
``This is a common mistake made by corporations that aren't from English-speaking countries,'' said Pike. ``It's because their pool of words are limited due to language barriers, so they repeatedly use the same adjectives that sometimes shouldn't even be used the first place.''
But expert business consultant Tom Coyner says it's impressive that some of the smaller size businesses even have English version Web sites.
``It's not a must for them, so just having a dual language site is good,'' said the president of Soft Landing Korea. ``But for the multinationals, it's critical to have one and since they have higher standards with foreigners also on their payroll, they should have well-edited pages.''
He stressed, though, that regardless of the size of the company and appearance of the Web, it's the content that matters and not so much the delivery.
``Sometimes, you're looking for a number or e-mail address and it's hard to navigate to find what you're looking for,'' Coyner said. ``Likewise, when foreigners scouting the company visit the site, they're looking for what the actual product is and not how something is said.''