Website Translation and localization - Sense and Sensitivity
In the past, web users had to adapt to English-language sites because there were few alternatives in their native language. Today however, website translation and localization is essential if you want to win International clients.
localization is the process of converting the design and content of a website to a form that is culturally appropriate for a foreign market. Trust is very important to internet customers. Your site needs to look, sound and feel right and a mere translation of the text is often not enough.
What does website translation involve?
Translation is an art, and like most arts it is more complicated than it looks. There are several aspects to localization and website translation, e.g.:
- Political, religious and cultural issues and connotations
- Multiple currency transactions
- Local search engines and directories
- Foreign addresses and contacts
- International sales taxes
- Customs regulations and tariffs when shipping products overseas
- Use of imagery
Where do I start?
The Strategic Approach to localization is specially created for testing a small number of pages on your website for translation into different languages. This is a great way to test your international potential if you are unsure of where to start.
Every organisation is different. The key to success is with appropriate project planning and detailed research.
Generally these considerations follow the following points:
- Which products will be sold to which markets?
- What procedures apply for authoring and publishing content?
- How will we handle communication from non-English customers?
- How will the website be promoted?
Contact a member of the Web-Translations team to arrange your initial consultation and let us assist you with these key challenges.
How much does it cost?
Proposals for website translation projects are broken down into:
- Static content translation
- Dynamic content translation (catalogue of products / news)
- Payment processing (if necessary)
- e-Business localization for fulfilment (if necessary)
- Testing and proofreading
- International and local search engine optimization
- In-country hosting (if necessary)
If you want to use your website for testing a market then the Web-Translations SAL offers three competitively priced packages to get you started.