Nico Nico Douga goes global (almost)

Posted on July 20th, 2008 by Serkan Toto

The once Japanese-only and super-successful video platform Nico Nico Douga goes international. They announced Friday on the company blog that they developed a German and Spanish version of their service (comments and tags are separated from Japanese videos).


German version


Spanish version

The international versions are already online. Nico Nico for people living in Taiwan was launched as early as October 2007.

This is great news for otaku and people interested in Japanese pop culture in Spanish and German speaking countries. Nico Nico didn’t release an English version, however. They didn’t state reasons but Nico Nico available in English would most probably spike up traffic significantly, generating higher server costs.

As a German, I must say the translation into my mother tongue is far from perfect and not professional at all. I hope the Spanish version is better.

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Author Information  Serkan is a German based in Tokyo. Like us, he is passionate about introducing Japanese IT to the rest of the world. Currently, Serkan is Director of Marketing at iKnow!, a social learning platform. He is also an author for mega tech blog network TechCrunch, covering Japan-related technology and web trends.

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Tags: Japan, Video //

8 Responses to “Nico Nico Douga goes global (almost)”

  1. shinyai’s log // Jul 20, 2008 at 9:42 am

    links from TechnoratiNico Nico Douga goes global (almost) | Asiajin

  2. Anime, Gaming, Videos, and Japanese Pop Culture. I LOVE Japan! // Jul 21, 2008 at 5:37 pm

    links from Technoratito help boost traffic, international versions were an obvious choice. While there was a Taiwanese version of Nico Nico Douga, it did not help boost traffic significantly. You may notice that there is still not an English version of Nico Nico Douga.Asiajinsuggest that the reason may be due to the fact that if an English version were to be released, Nico Nico Douga would see a huge influx of traffic and have a hard time handling it. So will we ever see an English version? I will almost bet money on it.

  3. tkparallelNo Gravatar // Jul 22, 2008 at 5:42 pm

    would it be possible for you to help them fix their German translation? They will surely be very keen to know what is wrong with their translation… Thank you !

  4. Akky AkimotoNo Gravatar // Jul 22, 2008 at 6:26 pm

    I cannot see how those translations are wrong :-), but if they didn’t hire a native proofreader, that shows how much weigh they are putting on those localized versions.

    I know Serkan loves Niconico Douga but localization consultant working voluntarily is not a good idea. Let’s hope they will get feedbacks from German speaking fans.

  5. XacurNo Gravatar // Jul 27, 2008 at 1:53 pm

    Well, their Spanish is good enough, just the same thing of using sentences longer than needed for not being sure of the language I think (like me in english lol).

  6. ニコニコ動画 “Videos sonrientes”¿? « 『Lonely★Action’89』 // Aug 19, 2008 at 1:14 pm

    [...] Fuentes: Asiajin [...]

  7. Black Tokyo // Sep 14, 2008 at 1:13 pm

    links from TechnoratiSerkan Toto reports Japanese uber video portal Nico Nico Douga (all posts on Asiajin) recently launched international versions in German and Spanish (Nico Nico Taiwanalso exists). However, English-speaking fans apparently will have to wait a little longer for Nico Nico to be available in English. The reason for that should be bandwith costs: The

  8. English guide for Nico Nico Douga, part 1: How to register | Asiajin // Sep 14, 2008 at 3:49 pm

    [...] uber video portal Nico Nico Douga (all posts on Asiajin) recently launched international versions in German and Spanish (Nico Nico Taiwan also [...]

  9. [OLD] ニコニコ動画 “Videos sonrientes”¿? « 『Lonely★Action’89』 // Sep 17, 2008 at 8:31 am

    [...] Fuentes: Asiajin [...]

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