ta’s Babel Fish (babel. Region altavista.com) provides ^{Main language} more pairwise translation services between languages

(except Arabic). Similar translation services are also

Content provided by Yahoo!, which _and

Functionality
has regional sites in 24 Features
countries supporting Web
search in 37 languages used
by 411 million unique users
each month. Yahoo!’s diver-
sified services, including
online shopping, auctions,
email, news, blogs, partner-
ships with content
providers, and instant mes-
saging, enable it to fit com-
fortably into most aspects of
users’ lives. Meanwhile,

User interface

MSN Search has 42 regional sites located in different countries. Its U.S. site supports a local search service for searching information in the user’s geographic area. Like Yahoo!, MSN also provides such services as email, instant messaging, news, and entertainment information. Its connection with Microsoft Windows and Internet Explorer has helped it earn an important share in the search market (monitored by SearchEngine Watch.com, a Web site that provides lists and reviews of major and specialized search engines).

While an exhaustive review of search engines in all languages is beyond my scope here, I have reviewed major Web search engines in three emerging languages: Chinese, Spanish, and Arabic. Table 1 lists major search engines and portals in these languages, highlighting important content and functionality features. Chinese is the primary language used by people in mainland China, Taiwan, and Hong Kong. Language encoding, vocabularies, economies, and societies of these regions differ significantly. In mainland China, Baidu.com is a major search engine serving many large enterprises, including Dell (China), Lenovo, and Yahoo! China. It has collected more than a billion Chinese Web pages from mainland China, Hong Kong, Taiwan, and other regions, a collection that grows by several hundred thousand Web pages per day. Another major Web portal in China, Sina.com.cn, provides comprehensive services, including Web search, email, news, business directory, entertainment, and weather forecasts. Leveraging on

Greater China Regions

Simplified Traditional

Chinese Chinese

Search engine or portal

(headquarters)

Baidu.com (mainland
China)
Sina.com.cn
(mainland China)
Yahoo! HK

Openfind.com.tw
(Taiwan)
Terra.com
(Spain)
Orange.es
(France)
Auyantepui.com
(Venezuela)
Conexcol.com
(Colombia)
Bacan.es
(Ecuador)
Yahoo! Telemundo
(telemundo.yahoo
.com, Spain)
BIWE.com
(Spain)
Quepasa.com
(Mexico & U.S.)

Yam.com (Taiwan)

( hk.yahoo.com, Hong Kong)

Timway.com (Hong Kong)

U. S, Europe, and Latin America Spanish

Middle East Arabic

Ajeeb.com (Kuwait)

Albawaba.com

(Jordan) Weyak.ae (U.A. E.)

Ayna.com (U.S.)

Membership services

Newsgroup/ Weblog search

Web directory

Search for Web sites

Search stock prices

Online translation

Search for news

Multimedia search (image, music, video, software)

Size of collection

Very Good Very good good

Good Fair Very good

Fair Good Very Very Very Fair Fair Fair good good good

Fair Very Good Very Very Good Good Fair good good good

Very Good Good Very Good Very Very good good good good

Very Good Good Very Very Good Good good good good

Table 1. Search engines and portals in Chinese,

Spanish, and Arabic.

its rich content and large user base, Sina has its own search engine, iAsk.com, that uses both Web content and usage information to rank Web pages. Other search engines in mainland China include Sogou.com and Zhongsou.com.

The two major search portals in Taiwan are Openfind and Yam. Openfind.com.tw, established in 1998, suggests relevant terms to refine users’ search queries, allowing them to find other related items from each search result. Yam.com, established in 1995, provides comprehensive online services involving search in various media in Taiwan, including Web sites and pages, news, forum messages, and local activities. Since 2000, Yam.com has partnered with Google to provide search services.

Due to Hong Kong’s bilingual culture, people there rely on both English and Chinese when searching the Web. Yahoo! Hong Kong ( hk.yahoo.com) returns results in a variety of categories, including Web sites, pages, and news. Established in 1997, Timway.com searches more than 30,000 Hong Kong Web sites categorized into more than 3,000 groups that attract 2. 6 million visits per month.

Spanish is the second most popular language in the U.S., as well as the primary language in Spain and some 22 Latin American countries where regional search engines provide search and browse services. With 19 regional sites, Terra.com offers its services to more than 3. 1 million Internet users in the U.S., Spain, and Latin America. A Gallup poll in 2002 described Terra as the most popular search engine in Spain; Orange.es (formerly Wanadoo), a subsidiary of