English.
Not that it should be the lingua franca of the Web, but if you decide you're going to do business in it, then doesn't it behoove one to at least try to get it right?
This rant is prompted by a Mashable! post on a new service called Wikio. The service is supposed to be a social-news wonder -- a hybrid of Google News and Technorati and Digg. That remains to be seen. Unless you're one of those invited to test the French-language version of the site, right now the English version is good only for entertainment value. Right now, the home page simply offers a chance to register as a test user: "If you want to test drive and help us improve our beta version, enter your mail hereafter." Hereafter? Nice touch. It's even more fun when you register:
Hello,
You just subscribed to be part of the beta testers.
You should receive your login/password in a near future.
"In a near future" is a concept that simply wouldn't occur to most native English speakers this side of James Joyce. It is a delightful idea.
Beyond bashing these guys for their machine-translator English, there is a serious point. Turn the situation around, and imagine a U.S.-based site offered to a French or German or Japanese audience in what amounts to pidgin. The site would be laughed off as ridiculous, and deservedly so. So for Team Wikio: Don't go any further without finding someone who knows how to address your intended audience in its language.
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