Forum Moderators: phranque
What is the best way to do this?
Somebody suggested using some sort of a automatic translator but I cringe thinking about poor translations. The other choice is two maintain two seperate sets of content that is hand translated. Are there any good ones?
If we decide to hand translate what may be the best method to do this?
I have seen sites use a folder for the different languages site.com/en/page.html...site.com/sp/page.com I'm not sure if this is some sort of a mod_rewrite or not.
I suppose you could also use a sub-domain for language choice.
Do any content management programs offer multi-lingual suport?
Thanks,
Rich
Don't use translator software: It doesn't work. Whilst they can be useful to individuals wanting to translate websites that are not written in a language they can understand so give them a better chance of understanding the website, don't use software to translate something that will be published on the web, unless you're prepared to suffer extreme embarassment.
I can't read Japanese. I quite often use online translators to translate Japanese websites -- the results they produce are diabolical, since they just go along and translate it word for word. Obviously I can understand it much better than I could by looking at Japanese characters, but it's not something that I would ever want to see published on the internet. I realise Japanese is an extreme example of how translators fail, but since very few languages are structured in such a way that's similar to English, they don't work well with any language.
First thing to consider: is it necessary to have all of your pages in all(in this case Spanish and English) languages? This depends completely on what your site is used for/what its about.
If we decide to hand translate what may be the best method to do this?
This will probably depend on your budget and needs. You can get it done professionally with a translating company but it will cost you. This is obviously the best option if you can afford it.
The other option is to hire a non professional to do the translation. When considering this option you may get lucky and find someone who also has skills in the web development arena.
Also keep in mind that a translation, even if done by a human, is not always optimal. You may like to also consider getting your material copywritten in the local language as well. I frequently have to rework translated material, and find that even the best translators will still benefit from a native copywriter going over their work. There may be a number of cultural aspects of your text that need to be expressed in a completely different way in order for your product/service to be successful in the given language market. You'd be surprised what a simple translation will often miss.
Henry
Also keep in mind that a translation, even if done by a human, is not always optimal. You may like to also consider getting your material copywritten in the local language as well.
Thats a very good point as well. Often a straight translation is not adequate.
Even before going to a human translator, make sure the information makes sense for the target culture. If you're selling furniture, what you put in your living room might belong in a Japanese kitchen. If you're writing about food, that pumpkin will never be used for pie in France, but rather end up in soup. And any baseball metaphors might not make as much sense as soccer ones.
Information architecture, metaphors, copy, products... everything is suspect when you start an internationalization effort. There are many more pitfalls than commonly recognized.
I would suggest having two instances of CMS, and figuring out sooner rather than later who will produce content, for whom, and what needs to be translated. It makes sense that much of the content will not be translated especially if both linguistic groups have different marketing campaigns and organizational issues.
