If we have some here (I'm sure we do) who are both a bit more "internationl" and more familiar with website design than I am, it's possible that useful information might be at:

Google Support: Webmaster Tools: Multi-regional and multilingual sites.

Whether or not this information will allow someone to "'splain it to us rabble" is a little iffy, but it does look like something related to the questions here that could be useful if we could work some of it into the general knowledge pool(?); and/or a look at "adjacent links" at the page might lead to something interesting.

It looks "interesting" but I'd have to do a lot of studyin' before trying to pass much along.

John