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- franglix, on 10/12/2007, -0/+0This is a useful article. I am glad the debate is being brought into the open, however the other side of the debate needs to be stated. Translation software is a useful addition to surfing activity, however words of caution must be added, especially if you represent a company seriously interested in getting foreign language web site visitors to engage in your business objectives. If you are not, then ignore my comments.
In placing high expectations on what translation software is capable of doing for your company's return on investment and bottom line, you may well be disappointed – unless you somehow already have discovered that foreign language visitors are super-motivated for what your site has to offer.
Three reasons affect the failure of translation software to meet those expectations:
1. Translation quality.
The software producers - if they are dedicated and honest - admit that they can only translate with an accuracy of between 80-90%. It is a real challenge for them to translate cultural expressions and idioms that we may include for English-speaking clients. Translation this sort of content may end up being literal and nonsensical - even ridiculously funny - and will make the content difficult to chew through for them. This leads to the second point:
2. Loss of context = loss of persuasion.
True web designers and experienced Marketing and Copy writing professionals focus on persuading their site visitors, their future clients to trust the website owner. It is that way that they convert them to their site objectives. The problem is that whenever a literal word-by-word translation of a cultural expression or idiom occurs (even for a couple of words), the wider context is lost. This can weaken carefully planned copy and its architecture. Meaning can be obscured or be lost in the sentence, at the level of the paragraph, or, the message / point of the web page may not be communicated effectively. It will certainly also interrupt the flow of argument where sequences of pages are employed to draw the visitor to a site objective. This leads to the ultimate challenge not being met:
3. No trust = No Conversion
When you surf a website written in your native language, and ‘convert’ (deciding that you will subscribe, buy, contact them, etc.), established wisdom interprets this you having given votes of confidence to the web project you are visiting – represented by you following their links. You have honoured them to take your money or your contact details, or momentarily lifted the skirts of your Spam filter for their access to your attention. If a website fails to communicate properly, it is unlikely to deliver on overall the trust objective; the site will not will not express how reliable, real, interested, sincere, professional the people are behind it. It will not get the priceless vote of confidence. This is the core problem for translation software and those who use it thinking it will get them business.
I don’t mean to shoot down the benefits of translation software, but do not kid yourself with the hype that it is up to the task for a company serious looking for new orders from clients in a foreign country. To nail this you not only need native-speaking translators, but web-savvy ones, those that know about info architecture, professionals able to research that target market to assess the angle of your approach, and those who know which search engines to optimise for and submit you to. You need the package, or at least most of it. Herein lies the future in a web that is actually worldwide.
Any investment short of that is, dare I say naïve, and worst still worthy of the ‘A’ word. I see this regularly with the many French companies trying to get the attention of English-speakers. The silence from the hoped-for market is deafening, the problem is that they rarely figure out why. Is that the future you are going to vote for by using translation software?
On the plus side, the software can help kick start the translation process for a new foreign language market, but it needs to be seen through to finish to reap a real return on your investment. To get your message across, the translated content needs to exist fully developed - and somewhere on your web server. - merlynne6, on 10/12/2007, -0/+0This is an excellent article on a very important aspect of web design, SEO and marketing that is only dealt with on infrequent occasions. Alta Vista's Babel Fish has been around for some time and offers a no cost translation tool for 8 of the globe's most widely used languages that can be placed on your web page(s) of choice. But as franglix points out, do not expect precison, grammatically polished translation from tools such as this. Nonetheless, Babel Fish provides a catalyst to make your web site available to much of the non-English speaking world.
See http://www.ahrtp.com and http://ancienthistory.ahrtp.com, scroll to the bottom of each page. Our company intends to offer Babel Fish translation on each page with content of merit. - zelo, on 10/12/2007, -0/+0Be careful, the translations I have seen are very literal and not grammatically correct.
- dragonsage, on 10/12/2007, -0/+0I picked up some scripts to do this -- and have added them to several of my sites.
See http://www.terryscomputertips.com to see the scripts in action -- click on the country flags at the top left to translate into other languages - Himmelsbach, on 10/12/2007, -0/+0After reading this article, I tried the Translator on my Art Web Page, which is visited by several European speaking people. I translated my Bio from English into German and was very satisfied with the result!
Thank you for the article - OnlinePopstar, on 10/12/2007, -0/+0Very insightful article! It's odd that I was considering this very topic not three days ago and was planning to Google a How-To on translating my site, then submitting it to foreign directories.
I wish you had included some How-To or DIY advice on the topic. Since OnlnePopstar is an International Onlne Karaoke Contest, this advice is especially meaningful.
I guess I'll do that Google afterall!
Thanks for a great article!
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