The shortcomings of Korean websites

The internet is used by many to stay connected and share information freely, but much of what`s found on the Korean internet is antithetical to this. Though Korea has become "the most wired country on earth," it has historically cut itself off electronically from the rest of the world through policies like the real-name verification law and the software it chooses to use.

The obstacles recently gained some attention when a website designed to help expats access Korean websites was, ironically, about as unhelpful as possible. There are some lessons to be learned from the strong reaction from both Korean and foreign users, lessons that can help Korean websites and companies reach their intended audience.

The website I`m talking about is ifriendly.kr, launched by the Korea Communications Commission and the Korean Association of Information and Technology to, as the Chosun Ilbo put it, "make life easier for foreigners living in Korea." The page looks fine now, but the first edition, which debuted on Nov. 16, was a disaster.

The original edition of the ifriendly website featured some of the worst English I`ve ever seen, especially troubling on a resource targeting English-speakers.

The page was titled "Internet guide of identical person acknowledgement on alien in Korea." The purpose of the site: "Alien in Korea can confirm identical person through Internet easily with alien registration or passport." It continued: "`Identical person acknowledgement` is to confirm identical person on the Internet in order to settle using culture of sound internet."



And if users were having still having trouble logging into Korean websites, ifriendly.kr offered "Does identical person acknowledgement not work? try to confirm the followings!"

Not only was the English ridiculously bad, it was misleading in key areas. One commenter on my site chimed in: "The website is not talking about identical foreigners having trouble accessing Korean websites," wrote a commenter about the use of "identical person" on the site, "but on how a foreigner must identify themselves to a Korean website."

Whether because of ignorance, pride, or carelessness, the website launched without being checked by native English speakers, a big part of the target audience.

But awful English was a relatively minor problem compared to what other users experienced: they couldn`t access the site at all. Because of the Korean internet`s reliance on Active X, Korean websites are inaccessible to those not using Internet Explorer.

Though nearly all Koreans use IE - and need to if they want to shop online, bank online, or check email, among other basic activities - it`s a different story among foreigners in Korea and among people outside the country. Looking at the visitors to my site over the past month, for example, I see that roughly 65 percent were not using Internet Explorer.

Other problems with the site included its overuse of Flash and graphics instead of text, which meant the Korean-language page couldn`t be run through an online translator, and the page`s failure to explain what "identifical person acknowledgement" is supposed to be and why readers should care.

To top it all off, the ifriendly.kr site stole the Internet Explorer "e" logo for their homepage, not only an homage to Korea`s affinity for the browser, but a reminder of all the plagiarism that goes on here.

Foreign readers, and me, had some laughs at the site, and considered it yet another example of things that are ostensibly designed for foreigners but aren`t designed with them.

After all, it was just two weeks ago that the Korean Tourism Organization launched a "Visit Korea Year: 2010-2012" campaign, though clearly 2010-2012 consists of more than one year. In addition to the strange English, the campaign is aimed at attracting foreign tourists, but the campaign`s webpage is entirely in Korean.

Surprisingly, Koreans picked up on the issue as well, with thousands reading my post "What was wrong with ifriendly.kr?" on Twitter, eventually making it onto the Korean-language version of the Korea Times. Koreans commented on the embarrassing English and a government webpage aimed at foreigners but inaccessible by most of them.

Now, credit must be given to those behind ifriendly.kr for fixing the page`s glaring faults a few days later. The page now has clear and comprehensible English, doesn`t rely on Flash, and doesn`t steal any logos.

The title has been changed from "Internet guide of identical person acknowledgement on alien in Korea" to "Online Identify Verification Guide for Alien Residents in Korea," with a useful explanatory note: "`Identity Verification` is used to allow a person to verify his/her identity on the internet. This is to encourage a healthy online atmosphere."

Of course, the ifriendly page should have looked that way from the beginning. But the debacle was helpful in engaging a large number of internet users about the shortcomings of Korean websites.

Whether because of ridiculous English, because of software obstacles, or designs unsuitable for international users (the overuse of pop-ups, for example) attempts to reach a global audience often fail. And when they fail so hard as ifriendly did last week, one asks if the designers are actually interested in reaching foreigners at all.

For instance, I mentioned that 65 percent of my visitors are using browsers other than Internet Explorer (44 percent use Firefox). Korean websites trying to attract foreign customers ought to do their own research about the needs of their potential visitors, and should look at statistics most likely compiled by government sites like Korea.net and VisitKorea.or.kr and design their pages accordingly.

And, one of my hobby horses being the overuse of English, especially English that doesn`t make sense, I continue to insist that native speakers of English be consulted whenever the language is used if ridicule is to be avoided.

It`s clear that Korean companies targeting foreign customers must, without question, find out the needs of that audience before spending time and energy working in the opposite direction.





The opinions expressed here do not necessarily represent those of The Korea Herald. For more of Brian Deutsch`s writings, go to http://briandeutsch.blogspot.com - Ed.



By Brian Deutsch