Today, everything from comics to the economy is not country or language specific. Business, art, literature, pop songs, etc., etc., have to be as multilingual and multicultural as the target audience and consumers. Websites are no exception.
The entire world does not speak English, barely 20% of the world’s population speaks and understands it. Although English powered the Internet and the virtual world in its early days, this is not the case today. If you want to reach a global audience, website translation is the way to go.
Let’s look at some scenarios that make web page translation necessary:
International Business Means Multilingual Web Content
Multinational business interests can mean forging ties with new or existing partners by communicating in their own language. This not only welcomes a new relationship, but also indicates that you will be with them for the long haul.
Multilingual web content is also a way to attract new business partners or collaborators.
Your web page should generate traffic to your site
Web pages translated into multiple languages raise the ‘hit standing’ of your site. They increase your target base and add to your online presence. This will lead to better brand recall.
When you want your business to grow
If you’re stuck and looking for greener pastures, a good option is to check out the local market. Targeting foreign markets that you consider fertile for your product or service is impossible without having a tailor-made website capable of thriving in the new spirit.
beat the competition
Competitors offering the same product or service may be hot on your heels. Leave them far behind with a multilingual website.
Or they may have already become multilingual. You have to jump on the web translation bandwagon to keep up with the competition or lose the race.
Website translation helps improve conversion rates
If your website receives visits from users who do not speak the language, translation will help improve conversion rates. A qualified translation agency can help you analyze and evaluate which part of your site should be translated: the whole or just a part.
Translation is mandatory
In certain industries, such as pharmaceuticals and machine manufacturing, it is mandatory to provide information in the local language. Web page translation is not an option here: it is a compulsion.
Once you’ve decided that your website should be multilingual, there are a few more considerations.
Translate content only to key languages
There are countless languages in the world. Choose the language you want to focus on. French, Chinese, German and Japanese allow you to access large markets. But is this the target market for your product or service? Obviously, the translation depends on your target audience.
formats are important
The simplest things in the wrong format are confusing. For example, in India, the format dd/mm/yy is used for the date. But in the US the format is mm/dd/yy.
Arabic, for example, is read from right to left. Therefore, the F-pattern of English websites, where you read from left to right, will not be suitable here.
When translating, please be careful to provide local phone numbers and addresses, formatted according to local usage. The devil is always in the details, so be careful to avoid confusion, otherwise you will lose sales – this is like traffic with no destination!
business enablers
If you want to turn browsing into purchases, country-specific transaction support, such as credit and debit cards, in the proper currencies is imperative. Otherwise, the website will encourage little more than frustrated storefronts.
Who will do the website translations?
It is recommended that companies focus on their core and delegate the translation to a professional agency.
#1. Machine translations are more or less word-for-word inept products. Effective website translation requires that the text be translated with a local flavor (localization) to make it attractive and effective.
#2. The translation must not detract from the overall appeal of the web page or website. When the scripts change, the design must be modified accordingly to preserve its aesthetics. Who but a professional can do this?
#3. Google’s Panda algorithm has become the main ranking signal for measuring site quality and driving traffic to it. If you want to be found by people in the international market, you need to have quality web content to stay on top of SEO. Don’t mess with the amateurish translations that Panda will relegate to the bottom of the barrel.
#4. Inadequate and incorrect translations will make you an international laughing stock and affect the value of your brand.
Marketing surveys have shown:
That target audiences consider language to be more important than even price.
The more expensive the product (such as luxury clothing and accessories), or the more valuable the service (such as insurance and financial services), people prefer and trust sites in their own language.
‘Mother tongue’ is the term we give to a language we have heard since we were born: one that inspires comfort and credibility.
Take full advantage of translating web content by having an experienced and skilled translation agency work its magic.