Translating websites for audiences with different languages and from different regions is a tricky process. After reading an excellent discussion of the issues involved, I’ve put together a short summary of the highlights (source).
Competitive CMSes
The following content management systems have quality language support on the backend.
Basic Questions
- Do you hire your translators on staff or on contract?
- Who manages multilingual sites?
- Do you have multilingual readers? How will they interact with the site?
- What language do commenters respond in? How do you facilitate cross-lingual interaction if that’s your goal?
- Is the information you’re providing relevant to every region you serve?
I managed localization projects for several years across Europe, South America, and Asia. Proofing translations is no easy trick when you’re looking at a language you don’t know. How do you proof a document in which you don’t even recognize the characters? Luckily, the type of content I needed to proofing had some easy structures to follow (bullet points, brand names) that were trackable. But there’s no way I caught every typo or error.
The best way forward is to set up a formal, multi-tiered approval process in which everyone involved knows the language they’re proofing and have formal permissions that allow people to only post content to a site once it’s been through a full QA process. If that means hiring one contractor to translate and one to proof, so be it, especially if the information you are translating is sensitive or open to interpretation.
Oh, and proz.com is a great resource for finding quality translators.
Photo credit: Github – All – by languages by franckcuny on flickr.
Photo credit: Multilingual No Smoking poster by GASP.