A good Web site is hard to find. Surveys consistently show that most Internet users have difficulty finding and evaluating credible sources of information. This holds especially true for non-English speakers. Though the Internet is a global phenomenon, U.S.-based, English-only Web sites remain the most popular destinations for Internet users from all over the world. Users whose native tongue is not English have a particularly hard time evaluating the credibility of these Web sites.

In the United States, language barriers contribute to a troubling digital divide. Surveys report that approximately half of native Spanish-speaking Americans use the Web, versus as much as 80% of other
ethnic groups. (1)

While many factors contribute to this digital divide, Juan Tornoe, publisher of HispanicTrending.net, a Latino marketing and advertising blog (2), points to a, “dearth of online content that speaks to bilingual and Spanish-dominant Hispanics. They either can’t find it, or it’s so bad that they’d rather use English-language sites.” Although many Spanish-speaking Web users do the best they can with English-language sites, “even Hispanic Internet users who are completely comfortable accessing English-language content may prefer to read explanatory information in Spanish,” says Mr. Tornoe.

For some Spanish speakers, the lack of explanatory information in Spanish is a mere inconvenience. But for most, the adverse effects are more profound.

“Language barriers prevent too many Spanish speakers from sharing in the educational and economic opportunities that the Internet offers,” said Anita Gutierrez-Folch, project manager for encontrandoDulcinea.com, the new Spanish-language Web site that offers topic-specific guides to reliable sites and information on the Web. Gutierrez-Folch continued, “The Web is a big part of the library of the future, and Spanish speakers must be able to use it.”

EncontrandoDulcinea, which launched on August 6, 2008, will appeal to Spanish-speaking Internet users who read online content in both English and Spanish. The site will launch with more than 20 Spanish-language guides to the best Web sites-either in English or Spanish-about a particular topic. New guides will be added to the site every week.

“For the many Spanish-speakers who have yet to conquer the Internet frontier, encontrandoDulcinea is a guided tour, in their first language, to the best content that the Web has to offer,” said Gutierrez-Folch.

About encontrandoDulcinea

EncontrandoDulcinea is an offspring of findingDulcinea, a widely acclaimed, human-powered search alternative that is the best place to start Internet research on any subject. FindingDulcinea’s 500 Web Guides offer narrated, topic-specific tours of hand-selected, credible Web sites, with insights and research strategies to help readers find just what they’re searching for. EncontrandoDulcinea is the first in a series of foreign-language Web sites that findingDulcinea will publish.

Source Links:

(1) eMarketer: US Hispanics Online, July 2008
[http://www.emarketer.com/Reports/All/Emarketer_2000514.aspx?src=report1_home]

(2) The Cost of Leaving Hispanics Lost in Translation, Juan Tornoe, Grokdotcom, February 14, 2008
[http://www.grokdotcom.com/2008/02/14/latinos-lost-in-translation-online/]

Bienvenido a encontrandoDulcinea
Nuestro sitio fue creado para ayudar a los usuarios de la red a encontrar, evaluar y hacer mejor uso de la información disponible en Internet. A diferencia de los motores de búsqueda tradicionales, que ofrecen millones de páginas irrelevantes mezcladas con las realmente necesarias e informativas, encontrandoDulcinea encuentra los mejores sitios sobre cada tema y los organiza en Guías Web entretenidas y fáciles de usar.

Las paginas Web incluidas en estas guías son sólo las mas confiables y convincentes, simplificando el proceso de navegación para el usuario y evitando la navegación innecesaria por miles de resultados superfluos o redundantes.

EncontrandoDulcinea ofrece Guías Web en español dirigidas a usuarios hispanohablantes que dominan el idioma ingles lo suficientemente bien como para utilizar las páginas Web originales pero que, al igual que la mayoría de los usuarios de habla inglesa, no pueden fácilmente diferenciar entre los sitios Web buenos y los mediocres.

Los mayoría de los sitios que recomendamos en encontrandoDulcinea están escritos en inglés, y están dirigidos a un publico de habla inglesa. Algunos de ellos, sin embargo, ofrecen también traducciones de su contenido al español.

Source: FindingDulinea