Igloo Software added real-time language translation to its cloud-offered social business suite:

"Worldwide collaboration can only work in a multilingual network, and that's why Igloo now crosses international barriers with ease. Upon login, users can set their default language preference. As they collaborate with peers in different countries, a tabbed view enables instant and verified translations of all content. Igloo is currently available in English, French, Spanish and Portuguese, and a number of customers have already launched non-English communities."

Wow, good stuff. This concept is the gold standard in enabling multi-cultural interaction, although it's very tough to make it work flawlessly. But then forcing everyone to write in English doesn't work great either - so perhaps good enough real-time translation is the way to go. Looking forward to seeing how this plays out.

Read the full article here.