How opting for professional website translation can save you trouble later on

Around 75% of all internet users browse the web in a language other than English. Companies are increasingly aware of this fact and are therefore deciding to get their websites translated so that they can enter the international market. That helps them stay competitive while creating a professional image and increasing sales. A company should want their clients to have a comfortable browsing experience on their website.

 Reality check

To achieve this, and in order to save money, a number of companies are getting their websites translated by someone who isn’t a translation industry professional. That person is usually a member of staff who happens to speak the relevant language. This sounds like a good idea at first, because it’s a cheap way to get the website translated. However, not everyone who speaks a language can be a translator..

A translator needs to have a feel for the right words in the right places in order to make a text sound natural to a native speaker. Furthermore, they need to know any relevant technical terminology and have a high level of accuracy, especially if they are to translate material such as a website text containing 5000 words for a company that produces highly-specialised technical devices – and all within two days! Even professional translators working into their mother tongue would be pushed to translate this kind of text and volume. Attempting it could lead to mistakes or mistranslations, which in turn would confuse potential clients and give them the impression of incompetence or lack of knowledge in the company’s professed area of expertise.

 Why machine translation is not a solution for your website

Many companies also try to translate their website articles by using machine translation including Google translator, Bing, PONS, and other similar providers. This is not an option we recommend. Just a quick experiment will show that these are fine for simple sentences. However, when things get a little more complex, for example when the sentence structure required for the target language is radically different from the structure of the source language, the resulting translation can be funny at best, and complete gibberish at worst.

 Keeping in mind

Showing an interest in and commitment to getting your website content expertly translated will go a long way when trying to build your international reputation. Customers will not feel comfortable ordering goods or services from a company that doesn’t take its own content seriously. When you decide to let a reputable translator or language service provider take care of making your website accessible to the international market, you can rest assured that everything will run as smoothly as possible.

AST offers website translation for any company who’s looking to reach international audiences in their local language. If you want to find out more get in touch with one of our project managers today.

“Without translation I would be limited to the borders of my own country. The translator is my most important ally. He introduces me to the world.” Italo Calvino, journalist and writer

If you have a website translation project that you’d like to discuss with us, contact one of our project managers to see how we could help or request a free quotation