Technical requirements are essential components that must be taken into consideration ahead of time. After deciding the preferences that suit your business best, amazing results are sure to come out of your newly localized multilingual  website.

• Think about the technical decisions:

1. Site structure, platform and navigation are key elements to consider before planning the localization of the site.

I. How are you going to host the translated version of the site: new domain, subdomain or subfolder? They all work differently according to your objectives and platform where you host your site (be aware of the limitation and implications of each option).

II. How are you going to navigate from one language to the other?

a. Are you going to use written text link for the choice of languages, or do you want to use images of national flags?

b. Will your user be directed to the main page upon selecting a different language, or will they be directed to the respective page where the language selection occurred?

c. How about the URL structure? There are different URL naming options in the target language that use specific extension to help users and crawlers identify the language in multilingual websites.

Examples:  “en”=English and “es”= Spanish (Español)

http://www.jrlanguage.com/en/ translation-content.html

http://www.jrlanguage.com/es/ translation-content.html

http://www.en.jrlanguage.com/ translation-content.html

http://www.es.jrlanguage.com/ translation-content.html

http://www.jrlanguage.com/ translation-content.html

http://www.jrlanguage.com/contenido-de- traduccion.html

2. Selecting the format of the working files and how to exchange content with the translation agency.

a. How will you supply the material to be translated: MS Word, html, xml, php, or others

b. Which of the above formats will be more convenient for your IT staff to receive the translated files

c. Revise your existing Content Management System (CMS). Look for answers to the question of structure and best practices to incorporate the translated content.

3. Website localization assurance is perhaps the most important step, as it is vital to proofread and test your website before it is open to the public. Always double-check connections, navigation and correct sequence within each language. By carefully reviewing the new site, you avoid the embarrassment of faulty navigation within your site that can render all of your efforts towards a multilingual page useless.

In order to market globally you must stop and ask yourself multiple questions to be successful in the planning and execution of a website localization project. Fortunately there are translation agencies, like JR Language, with the experience and know how to guide you in partnership to facilitate this complex process for you. JR Language has worked in multiple website translation projects. All of our work is edited and proofread independently after translation to ensure that your localized content appears original and attractive towards all your target markets.

If you have any questions about your multilingual website translation and localization, please contact us by leaving a comment or questions, sending us an email at info@jrlanguage.com, or calling at 1-866-389-5036. We will gladly address your question and see how we can help you.

As mentioned in our post about Misconceptions in Website Translation and Localization, the planning phase of the project for a website translation and localization is crucial. Evaluating all important elements while planning will help the project go smoothly, within budget, and reach expectations and goals.

In this post we are going to cover an important planning component: Identifying and understanding your Audience for your website translation project.

• Think about your audience:

As previously mentioned, it is very important to know your audience when performing a translation an even more so when dealing with website translation and localization.

Who will visit your site, and why will they visit your site are the first questions to consider when planning a successful multilingual website. It is imperative to take the time to do the appropriate research on your clientele. Understanding cultural nuances of each desired market will give you a leg up over competitors as customers will find your website reliable and appealing. Take into account the following:

1. What countries are you going to target and why? What languages are you going to have in your website?
2. When it comes to a particular language that has different locales like Spanish, French, Chinese or Portuguese, you must decide whether you want to address a global population (global reach) or if you are going to speak to a region or particular locale (localization). For example, targeting Mexicans and Spaniards would require either two distinct versions of Spanish websites, or one carefully crafted website that satisfies both countries differences in cultures, etiquette, and linguistic preferences.
3. Do you want to address your target audience in a casual or formal way? This factor is important and varies according to cultures, the nature of your products/services, and how you want to approach your prospect customers.

If you have any ideas or a comments about the review of your audience while planning for website localization, we will love to hear from you. Please leave a comment, write us an email at info@jrlanguage.com, or speak with one of our project managers experienced in website translation.

In today’s digital era, the internet has rapidly become the single most popular medium for searching information. As a result, businesses involved in multicultural markets must now expand their website to meet the diverse linguistic needs of their entire client audience. This “expansion” is called website translation and localization, and is becoming a growing necessity in the world of commerce.

However, the motive behind this post is to shed the truth on a few misconceptions many people have on this topic of website translation and localization. Many tend to overlook the complex and time-consuming efforts required to accurately produce a translated website that will satisfy foreign clients from distant nations and attract their business.

Here are 3 basic misconceptions at a glance:

1. A translation agency can quote and perform the translation with just the URL of the website.

a. In reality, the structure of the site and the platform used to store the content must be taken into account. Agencies need to be able to extract content through different tools. It is different to receive .html files than to extract content from a dynamic site stored in a Content Management System (CMS).

2. Translating keywords into different languages will be effective SEO for my multilingual website.

a. Keywords almost never translate smoothly, and might not be the phrase of choice for searching in the target culture. One must recreate the keywords in the target language using experienced native speakers who understand the meaning behind the original keyword and have the experience to research for equivalent keywords.

3. Using machine translation will suffice when translating my website (or any document for that manner).

a. Using human translators is a must. Although, large providers like Google and Microsoft, have released free translation web tools, one should not rely on them. These machine translators often produce awkward grammar and phrasing that appear unattractive and unprofessional from a client’s perspective.

When advertising and marketing your company’s products and/or services in global markets, the best approach is to start plan in advance and devote enough time to determine your needs.  There are several elements to consider when expanding to a multilingual site from an existing site or when planning to develop an entire multilingual site. Those elements can be group into four main categories:

• Audience
• Budget
• Translation process
• Technical Considerations

Please read our following four posts, which elaborate on these important categories. These posts will explore: your audience, your budget, the translation process, and the technical aspects of website translation.

If you want to share your experience in website translation and localization, please leave us a comment, send us an email to info@jrlanguage.com or call us at 1-866-389-5036.