What better way to demonstrate that a globe is small than by developing a bilingual website? Most obstacles to entering new markets have vanished due to the internet, except the dreaded language barrier. A successful website interacts with consumers in every marketplace you wish to do business with globally. In terms of importance, English, Chinese, Spanish, Japanese, Portuguese, German, and Arabic are the languages having the most significant online presence.
More than just linguists are involved in the multidisciplinary website translation and localization activity. The translation procedure is just a tiny part of a much bigger process of optimizing a website that can give multilingual content to each language audience.
To create a functional website for various languages, you need a top-notch team of website localization managers, but you also need developers, content producers, marketers, and technical specialists. It would be best if you prepared to spend a little bit more funds, but for a higher quality result, when using the excellent skills and experience of website localization services. This article examines the main features each website localization company should have to meet your requirements.
What is website localization?
Website localization is a broad field that involves changing websites for translation on a variety of levels, such as streamlining the code to make translation more effective and making sure that the pages and content are appropriate for each target audience (this can include cultural elements, images, numerical values, and many other details).
The translated content is effective when provided to the appropriate audience at the right moment. Websites must be optimized for multilingual SEO to guarantee that users always see the correct language version of a page while avoiding any technical SEO problems with duplicate content, broken links, etc.
Another frequently unmentioned issue is content localization, which refers to tailoring your content strategy to each audience’s linguistic and topical interests.
What should I think about first if I want to localize my website?
The localization procedure can be done before or after the site goes live. Thus the advice applies to both phases of the procedure—a few things to consider while localizing a website efficiently and accurately.
1. Understanding the purpose and the target audience
Starting small, with one or two languages, is always a good idea. The more translations there are, the better it is for your website. But it’s not practical to translate into all 7,001 languages around the globe, especially if you have a limited budget. To identify where most of your audience is and which strategic languages to invest in, you must know your target market and your company’s goals.
When hiring website localization services, it is crucial to be aware of these details so that you can target the appropriate audience. A country may have two or more official languages and some dialects. For budget-constrained situations, it is also an option to translate simply the homepage or the main pages—those containing the actual content. This is another option to think about in your planning since some leaders may decide to translate the critical files that the particular public can download. Utilize your data to strategize by analyzing the areas where your business is already present.
2. Produce superior content
Quality assurance (QA) includes checking the language and coding, formatting (creating a layout that complements the information), and market acceptance of the material. For any language, quality translations come from quality content. Look for website translation and localization software with the best features and research how to write content that is ideal for translation.
3. SEO optimization
To rank your content well in search, SEO tools are crucial. But SEO tactics require mapping; they do not translate themselves. To get to different places, it’s vital to use particular keywords. The platform you choose to host your website will matter in this phase. Select platforms that allow translation editing, SEO features, user-friendly language switching, and plugin compatibility. Finding out which search engines are most popular in your audience’s region is crucial because each engine has different guidelines. For instance, Google is popular in the US, and Baidu is in China.
4. Integration
Select a CMS that enables you to integrate with website localization tools and company management software applications to produce special monitoring reports.
It’s crucial to have a simple mechanism for switching languages that enables users to do so with just one click. Be mindful of the features before permitting this language change. Make distinct URLs for each area, for instance, to avoid having information written in various languages considered duplication.
The best website translation and localization services to select
Hire a specialized service, such as one from website localization services or a freelance translator. It is quicker if you select a partner who utilizes automatic and manual processes while using the most recent technologies. Such a service will produce an accurate and comprehensive website translation so that you can rely on them. We support a continuous process that incorporates all the factors mentioned above and additional capabilities like terminology management, machine translation, automatic assignments, and translation memory.
The work of translating websites is ongoing.
Website translation is an ongoing process for businesses and websites that have continuing content strategies in place. Translation and adaptation are necessary for every blog post, landing page, advertising campaign, video project, and marketing campaign to produce the intended outcomes in each target market.
This is why the use of language technology is so crucial. Businesses can significantly reduce unnecessary costs and save time by utilizing a cost-effective translation system that can rapidly assist them with translating all the content they want.
To provide a high level of accuracy and as quickly as the current machine translation technology allows, it is important to use robust language tech solutions and a translation management system that combines both human and machine translation. We further improve this process by using translation memory (TM), which automatically retains translated material and reintroduces it wherever repetition happens. In other words, the system “remembers” the translation so that when phrases, quotes, and definitions are used repeatedly, they are automatically translated without the need for extra human input.
Projects for translating websites might be challenging. Prioritizing these issues will help you save time and money and, more significantly, enable you to effectively engage with clients via your website, regardless of their language!
