There are lots of things to consider when you are translating your business for new audiences. This article provides an overview of what the most important things to consider.
Language & Culture
Language is very complex, and translation is far more than simply translating text from one language to another. To be successful, translation needs to consider the intricacies and linguistics of a language. For example, the emotions and understanding the culture of the two languages being translated. Even though advancements in technology have provided machine translation tools, they are still behind the capabilities of humans when it comes to translation.
Taking one example in business, imagine you want to translate a business slogan from one language to another. If that slogan relies upon a cultural reference or joke in its native language, it’s going to be very difficult to translate into other languages. In this instance, there would be no direct way of translating it, and you’d be at risk of losing the message completely, unless a reliable translation agency is used.
When translating your business content, it’s important to adapt your language rather than just translate it word for word.
SEO (Search Engine Optimisation)
SEO is one aspect of digital marketing which is responsible for the online presence of business. When you create content and optimise it for SEO, you will be paying attention to keywords so that content will rank. It’s important to consider that people will use search terms in their own languages, therefore you need to consider this when translating and optimising your content.
When you translate your website, you need to also look at the target keywords in the new language, otherwise you could go to all the efforts of translating and lose your ability to rank in search engines.
User Experience
The look and appearance of your website is crucial for your business, and it’s important to consider in any language. If you are translating your website content into another language, the new language may use more words than your original content which could lead to design issues.
Design space issues often arise because of translating content – some phrases are longer in some languages in comparison to others. To limit the amount of design issues, you can think ahead when creating content for your business. If you know that your content will be translated into multiple languages, then use a simple web design to make things easier.
Versatile Branding
Cultural differences create several challenges when you are targeting overseas audience with your branding. In some cases, your original branding may not be appropriate for foreign audiences. For example, even differences in colour may be interpreted differently for audiences in a different country. When translating your business content, do consider slight tweaks to your branding to accommodate the receiving audience. While retaining your brand personality, there may need to be a few tweaks made to your brand voice.
Media
There is an increase in the amount of visual content that businesses are using to promote themselves online. For example, infographics, video, images, and slideshows are all examples. Often, they are used to give content pages a visual impact and make mobile usability more appealing and engaging. However, these all need to be translated and made appropriate if you are targeting audiences overseas.
