4 Key Challenges in Business Website Translation

如何克服网站本地化的四大难点?

2020-03-19 13:24 moringtrans

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Did you know that 75% of online shoppers prefer to browse websites published in their own language? In fact, 60% of those surveyed by CSA Research said they rarely or never buy from English-only sites. As a result, a key component of a company’s ability to penetrate new markets is the language of its online content. And while website translation certainly has its challenges, it is perhaps the most critical and worthwhile strategy for increasing global revenue. In this blog post, we’ll look at four of the most common website translation challenges we see from our clients and explain how you can overcome those hurdles with some basic planning and preparation. 1. Using Proper Terminology Consistently Many companies have specific product and/or industry terminology, and these terms need to be translated correctly – on the first instance – so that they make sense for each target language website. We recommend creating a glossary of common terms, or a termbase, before beginning the actual website translation process. Creating a termbase has its upfront costs, but it will ultimately save time and money down the road as you continuously update your online content. Here’s how it works: Extract a list of terms that are commonly used throughout your source language website. Provide that list to your translation company, along with some context to help the translators. The translation company will input the terms into a terminology database, where subject matter experts will add the correct translation for each term and language. When the termbase is complete, your company can review the work and make any necessary changes before signing off. Once this process is complete, translators can dig into the full website translation – but words and phrases from the termbase will become available for reference in a box on the side of their work screens. Then linguists can simply select and insert the correct translations for specified terms without spending any additional time researching those phrases. After the translation is complete, QA checkers will make sure your preferred terminology was used and, if not, they can apply corrections as necessary. Following this process ensures consistency within the project, as well as across other translated assets, which ultimately saves time and reduces your costs. 2. Adapting the Content to Each Locale Ideally, your original content tells a clear and succinct story with minimal idioms, slang and/or local references. However, this isn’t always the case, which is why translation is just the first step in the localization process. Highly trained linguists will look for the intent of your source language and then convey that message in the right context to the target audience. (GoogleTranslate cannot do that!) Additionally, you need to consider adapting your: Layout – Does the translated text fit properly on the screen? Design – Are the colors and photos culturally appropriate/sensitive? Local requirements – Are there references to local regulations or legal requirements? Formatting – Are conversions required for local currencies, units of measure, dates, addresses or phone numbers? 3. Completing Multilingual GUI Testing Before Release Before localized websites are released to the public, they need to be tested and reviewed. First impressions mean a lot, and if there are mistakes, you could lose the interest of potential customers. That’s why it’s always a good idea to check with your translation company to ensure that they can perform UI/GUI testing and QA on translated websites. Ultimately, every word should make sense in context and all functional and cosmetic aspects of the site should look right and work properly. For example, it’s hard to see things like text expansion (some languages require more words) until you view the translated content in the graphical user interface. How does it look? Are any words or lines cut off? Does every button and link work properly? Overall, is the site easy to browse and intuitive to use? 4. Keeping Your Published Multilingual Website Up-to-Date Releasing your multilingual website is a major milestone. Once it’s available to the public, it’s important to keep each language updated with your most current content. Managing this process can be tricky, especially if you update your website frequently, so here are two technology tools that can help you: Translation plugins – If you manage or operate a website powered by WordPress or Drupal, consider using an automated translation plugin like Morningside Translator (for Drupal) or WordPress Multilingual. Both work to build a bridge between your website’s source language content and Morningside’s network of 8,000+ native linguists and subject matter experts, all while allowing you to monitor the status of projects, submit & approve quotes, and review & publish translated content in the plugin dashboard. Take a closer look at these two options here. Translation proxy solution (TPS) – A TPS like Sitelingo is another great way to handle web updates. Sitelingo can scan your website on a regular basis (either daily, weekly or monthly) to detect new content, and then it automatically kicks off the translation process. You don’t have to search the site for what’s new, save the content in a spreadsheet, send language files back and forth, etc. Instead, a TPS provides a very efficient, low maintenance approach to updating and maintaining multilingual websites. Conclusion Translating your website can open up many new opportunities for your business. It’s not without challenges, but with a little planning and preparation you can overcome them. As a website translation company, we have experience localizing content in over 150 languages. If you have any more questions, please contact us below.
您知道吗?75%的网上购物者更喜欢浏览母语网站。事实上,在接受CSA Research调查的受访者中,60%的人表示他们很少或从不在全英文网站上购买商品。 因此,渗透新市场能力的关键之一在于网站使用的语言。当然,网站翻译确实有其难点,但网站本地化可能是增加收入最关键、最有价值的战略。 在本篇博客中,我们将着眼于从客户眼中网站翻译的四个常见问题,并解释如何通过一些基本的前期计划和准备工作来克服这些困难。 1.始终使用正确的术语 许多公司都有特定的产品和/或行业术语,首先需要正确翻译这些术语,让其在每个目标语言网站都是正确无误的。我们建议在开始网站翻译之前,创建一个通用术语表或术语库。创建术语库虽然需要前期成本,但随着您不断更新网站的内容,它最终能为您节省大量的时间和金钱。具体流程如下: - 提取整个源语言网站中的常用术语并制成列表。 - 将该列表提供给您的翻译公司,并提供术语的上下文信息帮助译员理解及翻译。 - 翻译公司将把这些术语输入到一个术语数据库中,行业专家将为每个术语和语言添加正确的翻译。 - 当术语库创建完成后,您的公司可以在验收之前对其进行审查并做出必要的更改。 完成以上流程后,译员就可开始整个网站的翻译,术语库中的单词和短语将会出现在工作屏幕旁边的一个方框中以供参考。然后,译员在遇到特定术语时就可以简单地在术语库中选择并插入正确的翻译,而不需要花费额外的时间来查证这些术语。翻译完成后,质检员将检查使用的术语是否正确,如果不正确,他们可以根据需要进行更正。遵循这个流程可以确保项目内部以及其他翻译文本之间的一致性,从而最终节省时间并降低成本。 2. 内容本地化 理想的情况是,您的网站原文本讲述了一个清晰简洁的故事,且几乎没有用到习语、俚语和/或方言。然而,情况并非如此,这就是为什么翻译只是本地化过程的第一步。经验丰富的译者会探寻源语言意图,然后在恰当的语境中把信息传达给目标受众。(这点是谷歌翻译无法做到的!)此外,您需要考虑下列几点: 排版——翻译的文本是否显示在屏幕恰当的位置上? 设计——主题颜色和照片是否符合当地文化审美/触犯当地文化禁忌? 当地法律法规——是否遵守当地法规或法律要求? 格式——是否需要转换成本地货币,计量单位、日期、地址或电话号码? 3.在发布之前完成多语言GUI测试 在将本地化网站发布给公众之前,需要对其进行测试和审查。第一印象十分重要,如果出现错误,您可能会失去潜在客户。因此,您最好与翻译公司确认一下,确保他们可以对翻译后的网站进行UI/GUI测试和质检。 最后,每个词在语境中都应该有意义,站点的所有功能和外观方面都应该看起来正确并正常工作。例如,在图形用户界面中查看翻译后的内容之前,很难看到文本扩展(一些语言需要更多的单词)之类的内容。它看起来怎么样?是否有任何文字或台词被剪掉?每个按钮和链接都能正常工作吗?总的来说,这个网站是易于浏览和使用吗? 4. 定期更新您的多语种网站 发布多语言网站是一个重要的里程碑。一旦公开发布,及时更新各种语言的内容是很重要的。管理这个过程可能很棘手,特别是如果你经常需要更新你的网站,这里有两个技术工具可以帮助您: 翻译插件——如果您管理或运营由WordPress或Drupal驱动的网站,可以考虑使用自动翻译插件,例如Morningside Translator(可用于Drupal)或WordPress Multilingual。 两者都可以将您网站的源语言内容连接到Morningside的8,000多名本地语言学家和行业专家网络,同时允许您监视项目的状态、提交和批准报价以及查看和发布翻译内容。 翻译代理解决方案(TPS)——像Sitelingo这样的TPS是处理网站更新的另一种好平台。Sitelingo可以定期(每日、每周或每月)扫描您的网站,检测是否有新内容,然后自动翻译。您不需要在网站上搜索新内容,然后将新内容保存在电子表格,再来回发送文件等等。TPS为您提供了一种非常高效、维护成本低的方法去更新和维护多语种网站。 结论 网站本地化可以为您的公司带来许多新机遇。虽然过程可能充满挑战,但是只需提前计划和准备,您就可以克服这些挑战。作为一家经验丰富网站翻译公司,我们有超过150种语言的本地化服务经验。如果您有任何问题,请与我们联系。 译后编辑:罗温馨(中山大学)

以上中文文本为机器翻译,存在不同程度偏差和错误,请理解并参考英文原文阅读。

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