Language Packs

Ok, quick question. I would like to make my site a little more worldly .I have members from every continent on the planet but I don't want to get carried away with 200 different languages. I would like to add 3 - 5 different language packs that will give me the best result overall. What do you all recommend?

I suppose it'd depend on which countries access your site the most.  The top three or five would probably be the best bet.

English

Spanish

Bro

Dude

Valley

You can consolidate Bro and Dude. Valley's a tough one, though.

No.... there are differences.  Let's look at a simple word 'Hello' as an example.

English:  Hello

Spanish: Hola

Bro: Yo

Dude: Dude.

Valley: Hey

Here's what I have so far:

1. Mandarin: Spoken by 1 billion + people
2. English: 508 million
3. Hindustani: 497 million
4. Spanish: 392 million
5. Russian: 277 million

Thanks Google. (lol) Now, I do not know how many Asian tow truck drivers I am going to attract to my site so I might reconsider the Mandarin.

I checked out Valley (gag me with a spoon!) and Dude. HL is right, there are specific differences between them. Having said that, they are able to communicate with each other on a rudimentary level so we will consider them one and the same for this project.

Seriously though, if all you had were English and Spanish, you'd cover a lot of ground.  You definitely want to stay away from the headache of trying to implement any of those RTL languages.  Russian might be worthwhile, although most of your visitors from Russia, will be there to try to hack your site... same with most asian countries.

However..... basing what languages to use, on their popularity, is probably not the right thing to do in your case.  Since your site involves those damn lowlife wrecker drivers preying on poor unfortunate souls that have gone out and smashed their cars, you should choose what languages to use, based on that fact.  You should find out what countries have the most auto accidents, or most motor vehicles.  Just because Chinese is the most popular language in the world, does not mean that most of the wrecker drivers in the world speak Chinese.

Still... you have to ask if a high number of wrecks correlate to a corresponding high number of wreckers.  I think some of those countries on  the above list just push the wrecks over a cliff or just leave them beside the road.

English and Spanish would probably be the best solution considering the proliferation of illegals from Mexico (and other souther latitudes) into the US. Europe is covered fairly well with English as well.

Maybe I should start a poll for the people cruising my site and get their input.

Also, We're not wreck chasers like them idiots you see on TV, We're the guys that take your car when you park in a Fire Lane or other no parking area. (lol). I don't care if your 8 months pregnant with 6 other kids in tow, I'm leaving with your car if you don't pay me.

(We need a smiley in a leather jacket)