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3 Must-Consider Points before Website Translation

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Maulik Shah
If you are a business owner looking to expand your business globally, you must be planning a lot of strategies for sure. While all the strategies play an important role, you can’t underestimate website translation which is much more important than people think.
While people often build personal relationships, localize marketing strategies and products, etc. they overlook effective website translation. Sounds trivial, but far more valuable in actuality.
While you can argue that website translation is a matter of minutes with Google Translate API. 
However, there is more than meets the eye.
While a good translation extension like Magento 2 Language Switcher extension can help, it won’t suffice alone. Read on to know a few things to consider to ensure on-point language translation.
 
  • Don’t Miss ‘Language Intricacies’
 
Every language differs from the other. If you think that translating the language of your website content is all you need, it is not so. 
Despite the improvement in the efficiency of language translators over time that AI has brought, translators still can’t outdo humans. They won’t be able to understand cultural or ethnic sentiments, references, jokes, or more such language intricacies of a particular region. Therefore, it is imperative for you to ensure that the final translated content conveys the right meaning and is appropriate for the targeted audience. 
 
So, if you use a Magento 2 Multi-Language support extension or any other extension as per your e-commerce platform, make sure it doesn’t just use Google API for translation. Rather, it should have a WYSIWYG (What You See Is What You Get) editor that allows you to review the translated content and verify its accuracy before it goes live. Further, it should also let you edit any translated piece of content in case you find it ‘wrongly’ translated or inappropriate. This feature can save you from translation blunders that even some popular brands made.
 
  • Search Engine Optimization (SEO)
 
Language intricacies don’t only influence your translation but also your SEO. Several business owners make a common mistake - they look for keywords in their familiar language and optimize their site accordingly. 
An ideal practice would rather be to search for keywords in your targeted audience’s languages and not yours. This only would help drive more traffic from countries other than your own. You can also contact SEO experts who will help you plan your site content and place regional language keywords strategically throughout your content. 
 
There is another thing you must understand. While Google is popular across a large number of countries, it is still just one search engine. There are several countries that use different search engines like China using Baidu and Russia using Yandex. 
So, go beyond Google and plan keywords suitable for other search engines too to fit their language complexities better.
 
  • Appearance and UX
 
The appearance of content on your website also depends on the language you are translating your store to. 
For instance, phrases in a few languages may use fewer words than in the original language. As a result, the look of your final content can get distorted. On the contrary, a language may use more words than in the original language which may result in the content failing to fit properly in the space allocated. This in turn may result in it appearing distorted. Especially in images, if a part of the text doesn’t fit in, it may go out and get cropped. 
 
As a result, this distorted site content can make your site look shabby, as well as confuse and put off the audience. Hence, you should always consider the length of your intended translations in mind and design UX accordingly to avoid distortions. Ensure that the final translated content fits on the page(s) well before it goes live.
 
In a Nutshell
 
While an extension like Magento 2 Multi language can help translate your site, there are a few things you need to take special care of yourself to translate your store properly and accurately and engage target audiences better.

 

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Maulik Shah
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