When you think about which locales to choose, and which languages to translate in, I always recommend to think of locales as markets, not as languages. That way you focus on the right things when choosing locales. But still, I’m trying to improve my understanding of how to select locales. What are the things you consider when choosing which languages to translate your website in? Leave your thoughts in the comments.
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Peter Van Dijck 
I think it probably depends upon the product…
though i thought this article was interesting; http://www.businessweek.com/smallbiz/content/jun2007/sb20070627_418850.htm?campaign_id=rss_tech
Well, i18n and l10n are quite tight so when translating (and I’m doing a new website that will support several diferente locales and languages) the question I always make myself is: will the person who read this sentence understand it, or, will she be confused by it?
So I try several variants and test them with real people.
When choosing the new languages I always look to my stats and think: Is there anyone in the world that can’t access this content, because it can’t understand it?
The answer is always yes. So I choose the language that has the largest number of users in the World and that will be using my product.
So, yes, I look at them as I look at a market.