Your website’s content is one of your most valuable assets.  It’s your chance to explain who you are, what you do, and set yourself apart from your competition.  Translating your website properly is one of the keys to success in the international market.  The American Translators Association (ATA) has published a (.pdf) guide, “Getting it Right,” that has some helpful tips and things to keep in mind when buying translation services.  Here are some of their tips:

•    Does it really need to be translated? Review your content to make sure you’re not paying for translating unnecessary or irrelevant content for your target audience.  Make sure there aren’t any redundancies in your content either.
•    Adapt your text to your foreign audience. Consult with your local associates to review text and make sure the content is appropriate to the area you’re targeting.  Avoid using cultural clichés, sports references, or pop culture references that may not be understood by your foreign audience.
•    Can you spare the expense? Good translation, especially if it’s from a professional translation company, can cost a fair bit of money.  This is balanced by the quality of the product that you’re likely to receive from the company or the qualified individual.  Those who don’t charge very much for translation may not be capable of producing translated text at the level you need.  Evaluate your translation budget before you begin.
•    For-Information or For-Publication? For-information text can usually be done faster and at slightly lower cost than that of text written to be published.  It is merely informative text that is designed to get a basic idea across.  Style and appearance-wise, it may not be enough for you to present for-information material to prospective clients.  Again, evaluate your market and your customer base to know what they’re looking for
•    Don’t do it yourself! You may have some skill at a foreign language, but it’s most likely not enough to produce a text that reads naturally and has no hint of being done by a non-native speaker.  “In many cultures, awkward or sloppy use of the local language – especially by a native English speaker- is not amusing.  It is insulting.”  Harsh words, but it is the truth.

To read the rest of the ATA’s guide, visit their site and download the brochure.  They’re a great resource on the translation industry and how to choose professional translation.  For anyone considering an international website, they, or another translation professionals’ organization near you, should be a must-have source for information.   If you know you’re going to be undertaking an SEO program, you can also work with your translator to make sure the website’s content is search engine friendly, and that you have good titles and other meta tags.

This entry was posted on Monday, September 15th, 2008 at 10:31 am and is filed under International SEO, Website Content. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.