Are multiple language sites considered dupe content?

[netmeg]

I have a client site that has been translated (so far) to four different languages, including Mandarin Chinese. The English pages are in a subdirectory called en, the Chinese in ch, the German in de and so forth. The site went up, and nothing has been done as far as getting it into shape for the search engines; however it's already been spidered and indexed, and now the Chinese versions of all the pages are showing up ahead of the English versions, most of it is supplemental or filtered, and it's kind of a mess.

How do I handle this? Ideally, I would obviously want the English version in the US, CA and UK Google, and the other languages in their appropriate countries. There's also going to be at least three more languages added later on. How to avoid duplicate content issues?

Any ideas would be gratefully appreciated.

[tedster]

Search engines work on character strings, not meaning. Since every language will have its own characters, there should be no duplicate issue involved with translations of "the same" content. Just ensure that each language version of your content has its own uri (as you are doing) and you will not have duplicate content trouble.

Also make sure your meta tags and server headers are set properly for each language. And don't worry about what you see on a site: query so much as what you see on a regular search. I can't see how, for instance, an English search term would return a Chinese page -- unless that Chinese page also had the same English character string.

[netmeg]

I can't see how, for instance, an English search term would return a Chinese page -- unless that Chinese page also had the same English character string.

That's part of the issue. The client has a Chinese division who did the translation for them, and because it's an industrial site with a lot of technical terms, apparently the Chinese pages also have to include some English for these technical terms. At least, that's what they're telling me.