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 whole 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 see some scenarios that make the translation of web pages necessary:
International Business Means Multilingual Web Content
Multinational business interests may 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 must 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 are stuck and looking for greener pastures, a good option is to get out of the local market. Targeting foreign markets that you feel are fertile for your product or service is impossible without having a bespoke 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 join 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, the translation will help improve conversion rates. A qualified translation agency can help you analyze and assess which part of your site should be translated: all of it or just part of it.
Translation is mandatory
In certain industries, such as pharmaceuticals and machinery manufacturing, it is mandatory to provide information in the local language. Website translation is not an option here: it is a compulsion.
Once you have decided that your website should be multilingual, there are a few more considerations.
Translate content only into 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, be careful to provide local phone numbers and addresses, formatted appropriately for 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 shopping, support for country-specific transactions, such as credit and debit cards, in the right currencies is imperative. Otherwise, the website will foster 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 local flavor (localization) in order to be attractive and effective.
#two. The translation must not detract from the general attractiveness of the web page or website. When the scripts change, the design must be modified appropriately 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 amateur translations that Panda will relegate to the bottom of the barrel.
#4. Inadequate and incorrect translations will make you an international laughingstock and affect your brand value.
Marketing surveys have shown:
That target audiences consider language more important than 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.
Reap the full benefit of translating web content by having an experienced and skilled translation agency do their magic.