Finding the Perfect Global Partner: MEETIC and ENLASO pair up for Multilingual Online Dating

By Maxwell Hoffmann, Manager of Consulting and Training Solutions, ENLASO Corporation

Online dating and socialization Web services have attracted lots of attention in recent years due to their explosive growth in North America. But French-based Meetic has taken the paradigm one step further. Not being content to be Europe’s number one online dating resource, Meetic decided to localize its proprietary matching “engine” and Web content to make its service accessible to users in dozens of countries around the world. When seeking a Language Service Provider (LSP) to make this possible, Meetic chose ENLASO. The challenge wasn’t simple; it involved over 350,000 words and every profile question had to be localized in a culturally sensitive fashion.

Meetic has three main online dating services: www.meetic.com for a general audience, www.superlov.com for young adults, and www.ulteem.com for more mature audiences. ENLASO localized the Web interface for all three sites into a variety of languages. But the biggest challenge was with the “crown jewel” of ulteem’s engine; a proprietary psychological test that creates a compatibility profile that can be automatically matched with other users.

“We worked very closely with a French company that specializes in psychological behavioral testing to create an extensive profile test,” states Guillaume Dastot, Director of Operations in Meetic’s Paris headquarters. “This test, which takes the user about 40 minutes to complete, has a very precise algorithm to help match people based on several levels of compatibility,” Dastot adds. “We have found that this test works effectively around the world; the same questions and images are used in all languages.” The effectiveness of the test on the ulteem Web site and all innovations the company has performed on its other Web sites are self-evident. Membership on Meetic has soared by more than 20,000 new users per day in European countries outside of France and a 2005 survey showed that one out of fifteen adults in France are members of Meetic.

He said, she said: The challenge for ENLASO was translating and localizing this 96 question test with a culturally appropriate tone for each language. Gender and pronouns compounded the possibilities. “The customers must choose from four possible gender search combinations when setting up an account,” Dastot relates, “male seeking female, female seeking male, male seeking male, or female seeking female.” Thus, each question in the test had to be translated up to four different ways, depending on the gender combination. Gender and pronouns are not as clear cut in other languages as they are in English.

“For example, in French, lui (him or her in some instances) can be female or male,” relates ENLASO project manager, Anne-Marie Charnoski. "Je lui dis can mean ‘I tell her’ or ‘I tell him.’” Charnoski asserts that ENLASO had to be very careful in selecting linguistic talent to work on the project.

“The tone is very different in Japan or China than in France or the USA,” comments Yves Lang, ENLASO’s chief sales officer and the account manager for Meetic. “Knowing how critical this content was to Meetic’s success, we were extremely careful in how we managed this project,” he adds.

For instance, one of the question/answer combinations in English is Q: “I would be more at ease with a man:” A: “Who lets me seduce him.” Obviously, the word “seduce” can have many culturally sensitive connotations, and translation must be appropriate to the audience and the locale when moving beyond western markets. Another question/answer possibility in English is Q: “My partner encounters a problem. Naturally…” A: “I take the situation in hand.” This expression would not successfully translate “literally” into all languages.

Web and psychological test content constituted over 350,000 words and were translated into many languages. To view the languages, visit the sites at meetic.com, ulteem.com and superlov.com, and select the appropriate country from the bottom of the Web page.

Worldwide interests: In addition to the large psychological test on ulteem, all Meetic sites have a wide range of professions, hobbies, and sports that users can choose from to add to their profiles. The linguists at ENLASO were able to proactively suggest additional roles and activities associated with the new locales that were added to the database. “For instance, we added sumo wrestling for Japan and barrister as a profession for the UK,” relates Yusuke Kirimoto, ENLASO’s Operations Manager. ENLASO linguists suggested a number of characteristics appropriate to new locales to help flesh out user profiles. Maori was added as an ethnic group for New Zealand, Shinto was added as a religion for Japan, and shuttlecock was added as a sport for several countries.

The global extent of this database is one of the ingredients that makes Meetic unique. “ENLASO helped us in a good way, by finding all of these hobbies, religions, etc. that needed to be added for new locales,” adds Meetic’s Guillaume Dastot. “The good news is that each hobby or interest, no matter how obscure to western Europeans, is now in the database available for all of our worldwide users.” The “bad” news is that any new discoveries in professions or interests have to be translated into all languages to make these choices visible in profiles in all locales. This made the project more complex, but the results are well worth the effort.

After going public last year, Meetic has regularly posted high growth both in terms of revenue and increased membership. Although many users do connect with partners in their own countries or cultures, cross-cultural romance does occur. Even the first baby born to a couple who met on Meetic was between a francophone Swiss woman and a French man based in Canada. Today, Meetic receives daily e-mails with news of more “Meetic weddings” and “Meetic babies.”

The global database of translated personal traits and interests has made this new kind of “global” dating more accessible. For instance, a French businessman may be moving to Brazil on a long term assignment. He can post a profile with typical western European interests, but also be able to search for interests that are more common to a potential romantic partner in Brazil. Many Europeans are fluent in more than one language, and they may be seeking a partner with a specific cultural or language background.

Regional dating patterns: Research has shown that Europeans are more likely than Americans to move to another region if they feel that they have found their true love outside their country. “One particular case comes to mind,” recalls Dastot. “A French man connected via Meetic with a woman in Argentina. After six months of online communications and chats, he sold his computer to buy an airplane ticket to Argentina where he met this woman and they have been together ever since!” This may be the ultimate example of “long distance” romance.

“We have many ”Happy Endings” reported to us by, people from different countries who met on Meetic, engaged in a relationship and then got married and had babies,” states Stéphanie Jegu, who is in charge of International Coordination for Meetic. “It seems to be happening more and more.” Jegu shares a typical but compelling example, as reported to Meetic by the customers involved. “A man and a woman are separated by 9,000 kilometers, but united by two computers, one connection, and one Web site: Meetic. After a few initial difficulties, there was eventually a wedding,” she continues.

The couple, a Frenchman and a Venezuelan woman, first met online via Meetic in September of 2004. She spoke little French and he barely spoke Spanish, so communications started out a little shaky. But the couple persisted and spent hours communicating via the chat room and e-mail. In January of 2005, live contact was initiated when the man visited Venezuela. Six months later, she came to France. In September, she returned to France again. By Christmas of 2005, he went back to Venezuela and asked her to marry him. “By mid February there was a civil wedding in Venezuela followed by a religious wedding in the Andes a few days later,” Jegu concludes. “By early May they had moved to France to be together.”

Profiles on meetic.com and superlov.com are available for browsing via mobile phone in Europe. Using SMS (Short Message Service), Wireless Application Protocol (WAP), or iMode services, singles can access the Meetic database and choose to contact other members throughout Europe. Interestingly enough, a Mobile Meetic user can chat with another user who is at home on their computer.

“One of the big challenges was ensuring that the Web interface would display both western and Asian characters,” states Meetic’s Dastot. “For instance, a user in China would see all Web content in Chinese, but be able to view profiles in French, English, or any other language and be able to chat with another user in any language.” To achieve this goal, ENLASO took special steps to ensure that all Web content was localized with an eye towards cultural sensitivity, respecting the sensibilities of each locale.

With their scrupulous efforts to maintain site integrity and appropriate behavior, Meetic staff emphasize that their sites are not international “pick up spots”. A large staff of Meetic moderators checks each individual profile to “keep things clean.” Posted photos are reviewed to ensure that they are appropriate and all chat rooms have a button that users can click to block rude users or issue a complaint. Users can be blacklisted from the site after a certain number of complaints, so Meetic is perceived as a “safe” space by most users.

Meetic, the movie: With all of the user growth, expansion into new markets, even marriages between happy users, what is next for Meetic? In September 2006, Meetic announced that they had just approved the screenplay for an upcoming “Meetic” feature film, which is projected for release in late 2007. The romantic comedy anticipates eight weeks of filming in France and a week abroad. We’ll just have to wait to see which country “abroad” is used, and if ENLASO is asked to assist with the subtitles.

ENLASO's Social Networking and Online Dating Localization Solutions

ENLASO specializes in providing enterprise language solutions to the social networking and online dating industry. We successfully empower global companies and e-businesses to establish global brands and customer loyalty through optimized Web site localization. Leading internet dating companies such as Meetic, Match.com, and others selected ENLASO to localize their Web sites into numerous languages.

For more information about our social networking and online dating localization solutions, please contact Chris Raulf at marketing@translate.com, call 303 516 0857 x103, or complete the quote request form.