The internet continues to grow and has become the default point of call for businesses and individuals searching for goods, services or information. For businesses wishing to get that competitive advantage, a multilingual website now presents one of the most high impact means of expanding a client base and securing greater sales volumes.

 

The multilingual website will continue to become a necessity for businesses and organisations as the process of internationalization unfolds.

 

Here are 10 good reasons why you need a multilingual website today rather than later:

 

Shift Away from English Internet Users

 

The internet began as an English speaker’s invention and as a result was dominated by English speaking users and sites. However, times are changing. With the growing numbers of people buying PC’s and internet access available from Nigeria to New Zealand, English speakers will soon be in the minority when it comes to internet use.

 

Results of research carried out by Nielsen-Netratings in March 2005 described foreign internet markets as “low hanging fruit,” i.e. if you have the will and foresight there are massive revenues to be found for relatively little effort. The results showed that internet use in the traditional strong holds of the USA, Germany, the UK and Sweden is flat lining. On the other hand countries such as France, Hong Kong, Italy and Japan are seeing substantial growth in internet usage.

 

The easiest opportunities are in countries where internet usage patterns and user/site relationships are less established. Acquiring users in markets that are currently in their growth stages will lead to a loyal user base that will pay dividends for internet companies in the future.

 

 

Cost Effective Marketing Tool

 

Having the ability to communicate to a whole new international audience in their own language will undoubtedly yield results not only in a financial sense but also in terms of marketing and creating awareness of your brand, service or product.

 

A multilingual website in the grand scheme of things is probably one of the most cost effective ways of marketing your company, capturing new users, building relationships with new clients and giving your brand an international outlook.

 

 

New Customers

 

Ultimately what a multilingual website brings you are new customers. By having your site accessible to potentially thousands of people you are showcasing your company across the globe. For non-English speaking users looking for your product or service, you automatically capture their attention.

 

 

Sales

 

With every language added to a website there is the potential for an increase of between 100% in sales. Even if a multilingual website is translated into a few of the major world languages, i.e. Spanish, French, German and Italian there is potentially a 400% increase in sales. There are few other ways to get such an increase for such little investment.

 

Customer-Centric

 

A multilingual website demonstrates you are thinking about the customer. That little extra effort shows you have thought and cared enough about them to offer the website in their language. As with anything in business, if the customer thinks you care, they will want to do business with you.

 

Trust

 

For many cultures there is an issue of trust when it comes to buying over the internet, especially if they feel it is in a language they are not fully proficient in. Offering them a language alternative allows the customers to feel secure in the fact they know what they are buying, how and who from.

 

Culturally Sensitive

 

A multilingual website, if designed properly, overcomes potential cultural barriers through allowing access in a native language. This automatically puts the user in a ‘cultural comfort zone’ due to their being able to navigate, understand and interact with the website.

 

Beat Competitors

 

To get the competitive advantage in today’s environment you need to think outside the box. Many businesses try to differentiate themselves from their competitors. Look at your competitors – if they have multilingual websites then why don’t you? If they don’t, then why not lead the marketplace and establish your company or brand abroad before they do.

 

Shows International Nature

 

Image is everything. A multilingual website demonstrates you think, work and deal internationally.

 

 

Search Engines

 

Search engines lead people to your site. In countries such as China, Japan and France, Google, Yahoo and MSN are not the default search engines. Home grown search engines are emerging and they are proving successful because they work in native languages and are focused on the habits and needs of their users. Such search engines are a key to tapping those markets and unless they have access to a particular language through your multilingual website then you will not be found.

 

In addition, many of the key search engines, especially Google, are developing the capacity to run searches in foreign languages. Having pages of your site available in those languages ensures maximum potential for your site being picked up in searches.

 

Conclusion

 

Business continually sees shifts and changes. At present the multilingual website is still in its early stages, with mostly large multinational companies using them to secure an international foothold. However, the trickle down effect will naturally occur and the multilingual website will become part and parcel of an internet presence. Whether people chose to invest now or later is the only choice they have.

 

 

Building it

 

When building websites in multiple languages, you are faced with a variety of challenges. Translation is an important part of the process, though not the only one. Some of the things to consider are discussed below.

 

Inputting translated text

 

Adding text to a website in an unfamiliar language can be tricky. One solution is to include notes and labels which tell you which part of the text is which and where is belongs on your website. If you do this, you should explain the purpose of such notes to your translators. Unfortunately not all translators will follow the instructions: some will translate the notes and labels, others will leave them out of their translations. Even with such labelling, some web developers and editors will still not be confident about adding the translated texts to websites, particularly texts written in different writing systems.

 

Another solution is for the translators to enter the translated text into your website. This can work if you have a content management system for your website, though there may be problems text formatting, links and coding. If your translators have some knowledge of such things as HTML and CSS, such problems can be minimised or eliminated.

 

Alternatively you could employ web developers who are familiar with the languages into which you are translating your website, or send them on training courses to learn those languages.

 

Fitting the text into your web pages

 

Text in some languages takes up more space than others. For example German and Russian text usually takes up more space than English, but texts in Chinese and Korean take up less space. Certain sections of websites, particularly menus, often have a fixed width. Sometimes you have to use alternative, shorter translations to fit the available space.

 

Here is an illustration of the amount of space taken up by different languages. The same text, font face and font size is used for all the languages. This image also illustrates the font size problem – the Chinese and Japanese text is quite difficult to read at this size, but the other languages are perfectly legible.

 

 

In some languages, such as Thai and Lao, there are no spaces between words. When building websites in such languages, it really helps if you can read the text in order to add line breaks in appropriate places, otherwise it will overflow the edges of your pages.

 

Page layout

 

If you translate your website into languages that are written from right to left, such as Arabic, Persian or Urdu, the page layout should be flipped over so that it’s a mirror image of the pages in left-to-right languages. Some images may need altering and adjustments to the style sheets and some page elements will also be needed.

 

Font sizes

 

Some languages, such as Chinese, Korean and Arabic, are difficult to read at font sizes that are perfectly legible for languages like English, French and Russian. Using separate style sheets is a solution to this problem. Another solution is to avoid specifying font sizes at all, though designers don’t tend to be very keen on this as it messes up their design.

 

Linking to and between translations

 

On bilingual websites linking between languages is straightforward. On multilingual websites though, it can be more challenging.

 

There are a number of ways to link to and between the translated parts of a website. A popular method is to list all the translations available on your homepage, though it’s better to link to the translation on every page of your site as not all visitors will enter your site through the homepage.

 

Some people list the languages using either their native names or their names in the original language of the website. Others use flags and/or the names of countries. The latter two methods are misleading if your translations are not country-specific. For example, if you use a French flag to link to your French translation, French speakers from other countries may feel ignored and/or offended. However, if your French translation is aimed at people from France, using a French flag for the link is appropriate. Flags are country-specific, languages are not.

 

Maintaining your website

 

Websites tend to be changed regularly. Keeping all the translations of your site up-to-date is a real challenge. Some changes will be large; others will involve just a few words here and there. Sending such changes to your translators whenever they occur may be inconvenient for both you and the translators. Some large organisations employ in-house translators. Another solution is to save up the bits of text that need translating and send them to your translators once a month. The best solution would be to employ web editors who speak each of the languages into which you’ve translated your website. This could also be an opportunity for translators to branch out in a different direction.

 

Localising your website

 

Translation is not the only aspect of localisation. Other things that need to be considered include formality of language, currencies, weights and measures, public holidays, cultural sensitivities, gender roles and geographic examples.

 

The original text of your website might be written in informal language, but this could be inappropriate in some of your translations, or vice versa. It’s a good idea to explain to your translators the kind of audience your website is aimed at so that they can adjust the register of their translations appropriately.

 

Handling enquiries from your website

 

Once you’ve translated your website, people will start contacting you in foreign languages. This is one aspect that many people seem to overlook. Answering such enquiries in the appropriate language is important. There are various ways you could do this, including employing people who speak the languages; having the enquiries translated, writing replies, then having the replies translated, or using automatic translation software.

 

If you are not receiving many enquiries, you could have them translated by your translators, write replies, then have the replies translated. With automatic translation software you can get a translation of the enquiries, then either reply in your language, or translate your replies, though the translation produced by such programs tends to be quite poor. The ideal solution is to employ people with both language and sales skills, or to train people with the relevant languages in sales.

                                                                                      

This guide should convince you of the benefits of having a multilingual website and the making of it when you reach your decision to go multilingual