If you want to do successfully do business globally, there can be no language barriers between you and your clients. This is why accurate website translation is so crucial to international success. Considering the fact that just under two billion consumers used the internet to purchase goods or services in 2019, it’s clear why businesses need to pay specific attention to their website to attract customers.
You will find it far more difficult to sell your services to international clients without communicating in their language, and the more precise and nuanced the quality of your translations are, the more likely you will be to reach bigger audiences, increase conversions and help the usability of your site. And since this initial process of translation is so important, you will need to carefully consider how and where you get your translations from to ensure the utmost accuracy.
Beware of automatic translation services
Machine translators like Google Translate may initially seem appealing as a cheap, quick solution to companies’ linguistic needs, but they don’t offer anywhere near the same level of accuracy as a human linguist. As advanced as artificial learning algorithms currently are, they still don’t understand the intricacies of full sentences and idioms, which can lead to wider contextual meanings of text getting lost in translation.
For instance, if your website is written in a humorous style, this tone may not be picked up by a machine translator, removing this aspect of your brand voice from the translated text, and causing it to be lost on international users. Human translators, on the other hand, can instantly identify the correct tone of voice in any text, and ensure that the translated content will maintain the personality your business intends to convey.
Understand there’s no shortcut for good-quality translations
Businesses should never skimp on having their content translated, primarily because the process involves revising and proofreading the text to guarantee maximum accuracy. A professional can translate an average of 3,000 words each day, though more time may be required for particularly complex or technical texts such as legal documents.
Here at London Translations, all of our linguists have at least three years’ experience in the industry they’ll be translating for, which means they already know all the sector-specific terminology. They also do their best to keep their international professional vocabulary continually updated, to ensure they can use the most up-to-date accurate technical terms. Taking a shortcut with a machine or amateur translators allows far more room for error, so your text won’t be as accurate as needs to be.
Website localisation also plays a crucial part here as, instead of translating text word-for-word, localisation will consider the cultural understanding of a client’s audience as a key aspect of the translation. Beyond the context, it also involves things like design and formatting, such as currency, time and date formats and units of measurement. These elements will not be accounted for when using machine translation, which is why London Translations only uses mother-tongue translators who know everything about their target language.
Choose a company offering website translation as a service
Professional human translators are the best way to ensure your website translations are accurate and precise, helping your business to make a good first impression wherever your potential clients are in the world. Website translation requires rewriting pages in another language, but this may affect the overall design of the site, whether by extending the amount of text required on a page, or changing the layout to accommodate for the direction in which the language is read.
Different colours, symbols and numbers can also have different connotations around the world. For instance, white represents purity and cleanliness, while in China and Korea it represents death and mourning. With that in mind, our expert linguists at London Translations can translate your content into over 140 languages, and make sure your website is accurately localised by collaborating with your design team to give you the best chance of connecting with international customers.
Get in touch today to translate your website and boost your business’s global reach.