5 Important Reasons to Translate Your Website
In the digital age we live in, websites are the most important tool for a company. More and more people live their lives online so having a great website means increased web traffic and higher revenues. Most companies know and understand this! But what they don’t understand is how translating their websites can increase their customer base and open them up to new markets. America is a multilingual country and translating your website can have huge benefits! Below is 5 important reasons to translate your website.
What Is Website Translation?
Website translation is converting the text on a website from one language into another. The translation can simply be informative material or can extend to branding and marketing – it depends on what the company wants. In general, companies translate all pages they want customers who speak a different language to understand (home page, about page, and services pages at a minimum). The translation agency or translator the company uses will help consult on what to translate, when, and for whom. It is very important before translating to know who the target audience is and what languages will be most effective for the website. Many companies roll out languages in separate stages to coincide with marketing and development campaigns.
Why Should I Translate My Company Website?
You might be saying to yourself, “Why should I translate my company’s website? I don’t know anything about translation!” You’re not alone! Many people think that website translation will be a daunting task – but this couldn’t be further from the truth! Website translation is an easy, painless process that can result in increased revenue and higher customer satisfaction. Companies that fit one or more of these descriptions should strongly consider translating their website:
- The company is based in a city/area with a large international and/or immigrant population that has limited English proficiency (LEP)
- The company customer base is made up in large part by LEP customers who would feel more comfortable interacting with a website in their native language
- The company is trying to increase its market base internationally
- The company is trying to recruit international employees and/or investment
- The company is tied to a multicultural community either in its mission, market, or goals
This list of 5 important reasons to translate your website is by no means a complete list! There are hundreds of reasons that factor in when companies decide to translate their websites. For example, a legal aid group with a mission to help refugees get citizenship based in Minneapolis would choose to translate their website from English into Somali and Hmong. They would choose these languages because of the large Somali and Hmong populations in their area thereby increasing their clients according to their needs. In contrast, a legal aid society in Los Angeles would translate their website into Spanish because their market would be predominately Spanish speakers.
By translating your company’s website into the native languages of your current and potential customers, partners, and investors, you create good will and confidence in your company. People are more likely to stay on sites in their native language than those in another language. Increased time on your site and higher consumer confidence means higher web traffic, revenues, and global reach!
What Is the Website Translation Process?
Before deciding to translate your website, make sure you know why you are translating it and who you are trying to reach. Are you going to translate into one language? Or more? Do you want plain language translations? Or do you think your customers need a higher reading level? How many pages are you translating? These are all very important things to think about so that your translator can appropriately plan for the project.
Here at Acutrans, our website translation process is easy and fluid. First, you send your finalized website copy to your dedicated project manager. They upload it into our translation software to come up with a detailed quote and timeline for the translation. If the quote is approved, the project manager and their linguist teams get to work on translating using computer-assisted translation (CAT) tools, a unique company translation memory (TM) and any glossaries and termbases (TBs) you want. The text is translated, edited, and proofread by 3 separate linguists and then returned to the project manager. The project manager then reviews the text while uploading it into your TM and then returns it to you.
After your company has the translated text, your web design team creates the new language site. Once it is created, the Acutrans QA team reviews all the text on the website. This step is very important to make sure that customers will like the look of the website, not just the text!
For over two decades, businesses have delivered customized, convenient, and reliable translations to their customers through their partnerships with Acutrans. Acutrans is at the forefront of the translation industry, leveraging cutting-edge technology to create faster, better, and more cost-effective translations. Reach out to Acutrans for your quote today.