The definition of “Quality” in translation services
Website Translation Tips
Website design is challenging enough when you are dealing with one language. However, it is an entirely different beast when you are targeting an international market. These website translation tips can help you create a website that positions your company well in the global market, maintains best SEO (Search Engine Optimization) practices, and – most importantly – provides a finished copy that is free of typos, grammatical errors, and erroneous information.
Review the original site carefully
Before you begin your translation, review the site carefully with the client so you can pro-actively note specific sentences, ideas, or turns of phrase that may not translate well from one culture to the next. Business practices and the culture of sales vary significantly from country to country. Identifying potential problem spots, figures of speech, clichés, etc. that may not translate well beforehand, will allow you and the client to resolve these issues before the translation is complete. A professional translation company can help you identify problem areas.
Be prepared to learn some basics of translation concepts
If you have never translated your site before, you may not be aware how your website layout and function may change. For example, the text in one language will be longer or shorter than another, which can drastically affect how their content appears on the screen. SEO doesn’t translate directly from one language to another so it may be useful to do some marketing research first, to provide you with keyword variations to use while you’re translating the material. You may want to look at the multi-lingual websites of competitors to see how each language is displayed.
Search for typos and errors in the source content
Ideally, translators should receive perfect copy to translate. However, you would be surprised how many websites are laden with errors and typos, which can make your translation a bit trickier. In most cases, these errors are obvious and won’t change the nature of your work. Nonetheless, certain word differences or grammatical glitches can change how a sentence or phrase is translated, resulting in a faulty translation. Streamline and localize. In many cases, certain products or services only pertain to the home market. In this case, it’s a waste of your time and money to have these sections translated. Preparing the original website for localization by streamlining the content will result in a higher quality translated website.
Do your homework
Most website translations are business translations, which means you may be dealing with text regarding delivery schedules, customer service practices, tax codes, etc. These can all vary from country to country. You will need to work carefully with any global branches to determine how these will be handled. Translators may want to do some reconnaissance on their own to determine the particulars, in the end content should not be a guessing game. Provide accurate content to the translation team.
These website translation tips can help you provide cost-effective, professional, and dynamic website content that will help to take your website to the next level. Let CCA help you get your website ready to meet the world!
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