Two French Language associations file suit against Georgia Institute of Technology for presenting information only in English about the Georgia Tech's educational programs in France. The organizations claimed that this violated a 1994 French law which outlawed the use of "foreign words in any advertisement for goods and services if an approved French word could be used instead." The suit was dropped, but the Web site now has the information in French and English (Petrovich, 1998). ― Are we still insisting on English being the only language for displaying information on the Internet? The Office de la Langue Francaise (OLF) informed the operator in a computer store in Montreal that his Web site violates the Canadian language laws requiring the use of French. The law dictates that even the corporate logos cannot be displayed unless French translations were also displayed, with the French letters at least twice the size of the English ones (Petrovich, 1998). ― Although the majority of the Web content is in English, is it necessary to publish multiple language Web sites for certain locales? Reebok names their new sneaker line 'Incubus' which means an evil spirit that lies on persons in their sleep. ― Are we naming our products properly? Are we offending some cultures?
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