Translating websites can be a complex process. To make things simpler we are making a few suggestions if you intend to have your site translated into one or more languages:
How much of the site should we translate?
Often it doesn’t make sense and may be very expensive to translate the whole site. If there are regularly updated sections such as ‘News’ or maybe a blog, in which new content is frequently added, it will make sense to exclude this from the translation. You can create an effective series of ‘mini-sites’ in the target languages which contain the main content of your site.
Gripple Website in Eight Languages
Hosting your site
When you have your translations there are various options for hosting them. You can place the foreign language versions in sub-folders on your existing site, e.g. www.oursite.com/french, or you can host the translated sites under their own, country specific domain, e.g. www.oursite.fr (for France). We can help you in choosing and buying country specific domains.
Medical website translation into French German and Dutch
Can you handle requests in the new languages?
Creating a new site in a foreign language is a fantastic way to attract new clients but if none of your staff can speak the foreign language it may be a wise idea to give only email contact details on your new sites! If you need ongoing translation of email it is possible to set up an account with Adelphi to avoid incurring minimum charges on lots of small translation jobs.
Navigating your translated sites – to Flag or not to Flag?
You or your developers (or our web guys here at Adelphi) will need to add to the navigation of your site, to allow selection of the different language versions. You can do this in various ways. A simple drop-down menu with the language names in the target language (e.g. Deutsch), a simple static text menu on the site or maybe the very popular flags image buttons. we have to be a little careful with flags. If your site is localised for a particular country then flags are fine. However, bear in mind that some languages are spoken across boundaries and if you are aiming for a ‘generic’ translation then flags would be less appropriate. For example, French in Europe is spoken in France, Belgium, Monaco, Andorra and Switzerland.
Sometimes, one country will have more than one important language. India is a good example of this. There is no flag for Hindi, Gujarati, Punjabi, Tamil etc……
Hotel Website in Japanese (Click to enlarge)
Text expansion when working with foreign languages
Foreign Language Subtitles
Multilingual Packaging Case Studies
Working with Arabic & other right-to-left languages
Working with Chinese & other Far Eastern languages
Adelphi Translations can provide advice on all of the above if you are thinking of translating your website. Don’t hesitate to call us.Adelphi Translations is a full service translation agency producing translations, typesetting, multilingual and foreign language websites, voice overs, Flash files and subtitles in any language.
