The Korean language is the official language of both North and South Korea and is spoken by about 81 million people including large groups in the former Soviet Union, China, Australia, New Zealand, the United States, Canada, Brazil, Japan, and more recently, South Africa and the Philippines. In the United States alone, there are around 1.1 million native Korean speakers. In addition, about 34 million people around the world access the Internet in Korean. South Korea ranks as one of the top Asian countries for Internet use (an estimated 3.1% of all worldwide internet users).

Korean is divided into about six major dialects but is easily understood in almost all its forms by all Korean speakers. The Korean language was originally written using Chinese characters but is now written in Hangul (name of written form), using the Korean alphabet, which has 24 letters. Although mainly spoken in North and South Korea, the Korean language and Korean-speaking population represent an important part of the Asian market. South Korea has a population of about 47.5 million people, a GDP of about 855 billion. Due to its location all across the world and the importance Korean holds in the Asian markets, the Korean language should most definitely be considered when translating one’s website.

The Chinese language is spoken as a first language by about 1.3 billion people in the world, mostly in China, making it the most commonly spoken language in the world. In fact, the United States alone holds about 2 million Chinese speaking people. Concerning the Internet, there are over 144 million Chinese speaking Internet users in the world.

When it comes to written Chinese, there are two forms: Traditional Chinese and Simplified Chinese. Traditional Chinese is the oldest written form, the most complex and is mostly used by Taiwan, Hong Kong and Malaysia. Simplified Chinese, on the other hand, was created about 40 years ago so that the general public could become literate. It is easier to write, less complex and most commonly used in the People’s Republic of China and Singapore. In today’s Internet context, simplified Chinese search engines are targeted to mainland China (& Singapore) while traditional Chinese is used in Taiwan, Hong Kong, Malaysia and by the vast majority of Chinese expatriates in the US, Canada, Europe etc… When translating your website, it is important to decide which, if not both, form of written Chinese you would like to use depending on which area of China you would like to target.

Considering that China represents around 1.3 billion Chinese-speaking natives, it is obvious that it is a very important market to target. China itself is the manufacturing hub of the world, has a steadily increasing economic growth rate and has created many flexible investment zones, free trade zones, high tech zones, export processing zones, etc. Due to its market size, presence in international business affairs, and growth potential, the Chinese-speaking population is a necessary market for international business.