subject: How Many Are You Missing? Why Website Translation is Crucial in Today's Market [print this page] How Many Are You Missing? Why Website Translation is Crucial in Today's Market
Arecent study performed by the Common Sense Advisory showed that72.4% of consumers say they would be more likely to buy a product with information in their own language.
This statistic alone should be compelling enough to send throngs of businesses to translation companies wanting their sites translated into as many different languages as possible, but is it enough?
Benefits include, first and foremost, a bigger bottom line. But translating a website isn't as easy as it sounds.
Cost versus quality: Sure it would be easy to round up some of your international friends, pay them with beer and junk food, and have them interpret your site, but things can get a little sticky when specific pages aren't done for months because your friend has been too hung over to work.
Localization: Certain terms, phrases and slang, simply don't translate into foreign languages. For instance "couch potato" in the U.S. refers to a human being who is lazy, and watches a lot of television. But in Chinese the literal translation of a couch and a potato means a piece of furniture, and an edible root vegetable. People in another country would start to wonder why these two words are being used in conjunction with a lethargic T.V. connoisseur.
Professionalism: It's going to be bad for enrollment if your academic-based businesses Dutch translation of the website has the grammar and spelling of a sixth grader. Using a qualified professional translator and equally experienced proofreader will cost more, but will pay-off in the long run.
Further Common Sense Advisory research notes that "Websites offered in only one language can address at most, 30 percent of the total online population," and "Translating into 50 languages provides access to almost 96 percent of the world's online residents."
That means a website in English only, is missing out on 70 percent of the world's online population. That's a majority of the market that doesn't even know you exist, simply because the website that's marketing your product or services in only in one language.
Sure English is the international language of business, but any business-owner that has a lick of common sense knows that those numbers are too big to pass up on a little thing like language.
Developing markets in countries like India and China and Eastern Europe have huge potential for online traffic and revenue.More people in these countries are logging on everyday, and it's your job to find them and make sure that you're speaking the same language when you do!
For Professional Website Translation Options and pricing visit www.ustranslation.com for a free quote!
