Review by: Dreier, Matthias (2005-05-10)

Cunliffe and his co-authors present a case study of the design and development of a bilingual web site for Welsh speech and language therapists. They argue that designing bilingual web sites is notably different than designing multilanguage sites. Their approach combines an abstract structural analysis of existing bilingual websites and a card-sorting conducted with potential users.

The authors differentiate between multilanguage and bilingual web sites. Multilanguage sites typically assume that the users are monolingual. The content is therefore provided in a structure of its own for each language. Bilingual web sites, however, are often visited by bilingual users who prefer their first language, but wish to view material in their second language if the translation is not available. The case of the web site for Welsh speech and language therapists is particularly demanding for three reasons:

1. The therapists’ first language is mainly Welsh but the technical language of their profession is English.
2. The Welsh has a limited vocabulary especially in technical terms and Web terminology.
3. The Web developers neither speak Welsh nor understand the technical language.

Considering these challenges it would be easier, of course, to design the whole web site in English. However, the use of the Welsh language is a highly political issue in Wales. In this case, it was therefore absolutely necessary to provide as much Welsh content as possible.

A survey of 51 bilingual web sites in Quebec and 33 bilingual web sites in Wales provided the data for the analysis of the abstract structural models. The authors found three predominant patterns: independent mirror sites with a common (often monolingual) splash page where the user can select the language, two rather independent hierarchies for each language with links to sub-home pages of the other language, and common hierarchies that are richly interlinked with direct language links. In the case study the latter approach was chosen.

The card-sorting (a widely used method in information design) conducted with potential users revealed the problems of technical language and the limited vocabulary of Welsh. For instance, there are six Welsh terms to denote “home” in a web site. Other web site terms do not exist in Welsh and have to be borrowed from English.

The authors conclude that designing bilingual web site has significant overheads, particularly if the Web developers are not themselves bilingual. Their recommendations are valuable not only for designing bilingual web sites. As soon as novices and experts use the same web site the problem of technical language occurs. It is, therefore, necessary to involve both user groups in early design phases as well as in user testing of prototypes. The card-sorting method should be combined with abstract structural models. The authors point out that more research in information architecture for bilingual web sites is required.

The article presents an exemplary case study of information architecture and the difficulties of reconciling diverse user needs. The authors show a commonly used approach to developing an information architecture in practice. The article is worth reading for every practitioner who has to design a web site for users who do not speak a common language, be it literally two languages or simply technical jargon and everyday speech.

Source :
http://www.elearning-reviews.org/topics/human-computer-interaction/information-design-information-architecture/2002-cunliffe-et-al-information-architecture-bilingual-websites/