Archives for October 2014

It’s been on your mind from time to time… “We should really offer our content in other languages!” But you never got around to organising it. It’s all too difficult, really. Where to start, right?

Well, it’s not so difficult to organise as you think. For one, the source content is already there. You’ve already got your English website. The copy has already gone through all the stages of approval and it’s final. It’s live.

So what’s keeping you?   

1. The potential high cost.
2. A lack of time to organise.
3. Who to go to?
4. Which languages to choose?

And last but not least:

5. Why go through all the trouble if there is no guaranteed return?

I wish I could contradict you on all above points, but I can’t. You are right on all five counts. But I will argue: aren’t these the five considerations you need to make for every translation you need to organise, not just for a website translation?

Then what is really keeping you?

May I elaborate on each of the above points, so that maybe, possibly, hopefully, you will allow yourself to be seduced?

1. The potential high cost:

• Potentially, but not if you do it right the first time around. What do I mean? Read my story, a sad and frustrating case study of an all too common situation in the corporate business world these days.
• What if we offered you a 10% discount on all website translations as a reward for taking the leap? Just mention this article when contacting us.

2. A lack of time to organise:

• Probably, but it does take only one email to a translation service provider to get the ball rolling.
• If you don’t have the web content written out in a Word doc, ask for a quote based on the live content.
• Just make sure to ask for web localisation, which means that your content will not only be translated, but also localised – adapted – to the cultural and linguistic customs of the country or community you are targeting.
• Ask your existing web developer if he would be keen to assist; alternatively, ask the translation service provider to add a quote for the development process.

3. Who to go to?

• Not an easy one, as you will note from my story. But if you are considering outsourcing any translation work, contact translation service providers, ask for references and request test translations.
• Why? Because it’s critical to properly research and test language service providers before engaging their services. Your corporate image is at stake, as well as a fair amount of money.
• To start the process, compile a test translation or take a representative sample from your website –> ask the interested agencies to do a test translation in the languages you require –> be prepared to pay a minimal amount (unless they offer it free of charge).
• Ask your overseas agents or skilled foreign employees to be once-off proofreaders to check the test translations for you. Testing should be part of your corporate communications strategy when you’re outsourcing translation work.

4. Which languages to choose?

• This depends on which countries you are targeting or which countries will give you the highest ROI.
• Or, if you would like your website to be accessible to foreign language speakers in Australia, determine which communities represent your largest audiences.

And last but not least:

5. Why go through all the trouble if there is no guaranteed return?

• We all know the stats; I won’t bore you with percentages, languages and countries, but:
• It’s a given that most internet users will naturally feel more comfortable and understand you better if the information, products and services you offer are presented in their native language.
• And: since there’s less competition in foreign languages, your localised sites are likely to deliver a much higher ROI than your English site.
• A study conducted by California State University in 2006 showed that the majority of multinational enterprises believe localisation is either important or very important for achieving higher company revenues.

So then, can you risk not translating your website if you’re trading in foreign markets or looking to expand into new markets? 

Veerle Vanderplasschen

It was only by chance that it got discovered.

A couple of months ago, a major Australian tourism and travel operator had their website translated into eight languages, including Dutch. The translations were delivered in Word and as their web developer was uploading the content, he paused when he saw the Dutch version. He knew a bit of Dutch as his wife was Dutch and he asked her to come and have a look. What followed would be every company’s worst nightmare.

The translation was disastrous. It was substandard in every way. The web developer told his client about his discovery and advised them to get a second opinion on all of the translations. If the Dutch translation was that bad, perhaps the others were too?

The web developer happened to be our developer and he knew about our QA procedures and positive client feedback, so he recommended Absolute Translations. My native language is Dutch (being from the northern part of Belgium) and I immediately saw that the Dutch translation was full of errors of all sorts: mistranslations, grammar mistakes, spelling, style, tone, punctuation, capitalisation and the list goes on. To top it off, the translator used truly unidiomatic Dutch while following English syntax. It could as well have been translated by Google. So the client’s nightmare began.

We were asked to start the re-translation process on the Dutch version and review a section of about 500 words on the other translations, so the client could decide whether they were passable or needed re-translation as well.

The feedback was equally bad. The quality of the translations was way below what would be acceptable for a commercial website. It was so bad it was comical, but no-one was laughing…

Click here to read some of the feedback received.

The client had to make the unfortunate decision of having their whole website re-translated, in all of the languages. It cost them not only in money, but also in time and effort. The website had to be up before the start of spring, but it was to take two more months to be completed. A loss of two months’ worth of income cannot be underestimated. The whole situation was painful for everyone involved.

My conclusion is that getting it right the first time around is critical. Your corporate image and reputation are at stake with second rate translations, and you wouldn’t even know about it.

Clearly it’s difficult, but it pays to do your research before embarking on any large translation venture. Testing is vital. All the multinational corporations we are currently working with have tested us prior to engaging our services. It’s obviously a common strategy among larger companies, but seems to be rarer among the smaller ones. I’m sure they’ve had their fingers burned once before and learned their lesson.

If the web developer hadn’t known any Dutch, the client’s sticky situation would have gone unnoticed for who knows how long. A potential customer visiting your website will never alert you of any language issues, they will just navigate away and not give you a time of day.

As the saying goes, only monkeys work for peanuts, so cheapest is not always best. It’s up to you to separate the wheat from the chaff.

Veerle Vanderplasschen

Feedback by Absolute Translations’ reviewers on a translation sample of approx. 500 words

Norwegian

–         Everything I’ve read sounds translated and some of it might as well have been translated using Google Translate. The language is Norwegian, but the syntax is English. [Norwegian examples provided]

–         Simple errors that should be easy to avoid, like: [Norwegian examples provided]

–         Phrases that look like they’ve been translated by Google, like: [Norwegian examples provided]

–          A truly skilled translator would never use the word “ufordervet” to translate unspoiled nature/landscapes, as “fordervet” actually means spoiled (rotten) as in food that’s gone bad.

–          The quality of the translation as a whole is way below what would be acceptable for a commercial text, and my suggestion is that the client has someone do the translation again from scratch rather than correcting the current translations. I think the result would better and the cost lower.

Danish

–          The translation is too literal, it’s a word for word translation resulting in unidiomatic Danish.

–          It has many style errors and spelling errors.

–          Let’s hope the client decides to have another go at this.  The quality of their English web copy differs quite a lot.

Traditional Chinese

–          Inappropriate wordings such as 體味, which evokes the imagination of body odour.

–          Mistranslations such as 13個標誌性網站. Original says 13 iconic stops along the way, translation says 13 iconic websites.

–          The translation is too literal and needs to be polished extensively to be marketing-worthy.

Simplified Chinese

–          The translator misunderstood the source text in places and as a result it will need to be completely re-translated.

–          The translator seems not a skilled Chinese writer as some of the sentences are just plainly grammatically incorrect.

Korean

–          Unfortunately I had to re-translate the whole thing.  Some sections were too literal and translation-like (therefore comic…). [Korean examples provided]

–          Some transliterations of place names are incorrect. [Korean examples provided]

–          Some expressions are too literal to be marketing materials (not enticing, but rather scaring people off)

Japanese

–          The style of this translation lacks enormously. Like the English source, the Japanese translation should provide exciting and positive images of traveling, and it’s not.

–         The translation is too literal and the word choices are not creative. The text sounds immature and therefore risks giving Japanese visitors an impression of incompetence. [Japanese examples provided]

–          Imperative or prohibition type sentences tend to exude negativity and this translation may not achieve the desired result, i.e. encourage visitors to book your holidays.