When businesses embark on the creation of country specific websites, and culture specific content, they often need to set a budget.

And the budget for translation looms as vague and difficult to pin down.

This begins a whole series of questions…

• Can we get away with English content?
• Do we need to translate everything we have?
• What sort of translation budget do we need?

So when will you need translation?

In-Depth Market Research

In previous articles, I have shared my view that you should use free translation tools to jump into international market research.   This can help you a lot.  But sometimes you will need more accuracy.

Many companies will follow up key online market research with a human translation.

• They use the free translation tools to identify key resources.
• And then they follow up with human translations when necessary.

This depends largely on the business environment you are in.

Sales Communication

Yes, you must get all of your sales communications written by a human being.

But I have put this after market research…

Because…

You need to have sufficient international business intelligence to get your sales message right.

So you might want to look at creating sales communication in different stages.

The person most capable of writing your sales communication in a foreign language is a person who already does that in your target country.

You often need time to find this person.  It is almost like searching for the “sheep with 5 legs” as they say here in France.

Give yourself time to find the right message and the right person to translate that message.

Frequently Asked Questions

Once you get your main communication translated, remember to provide a series of well thought out Frequently Asked Questions…and their answers.

This usually provides a good return on your investment.

If you have many different languages to deal with, you can test “before FAQ” results with “after FAQ” results to establish viability for one country.

Most businesses do get good results with FAQs in foreign languages.

A Balancing Act

Planning budgets for future translation needs can be tricky.

Keep the points above in mind.

Start early to look for the right person to translate your particular communication needs.

Do not jump into translating all of your current marketing and sales communication - you will probably end up with more targeted communication needs in 6-12 months.

Carefully plan the content you need to translate.

Culture customized content builds stronger connections.

Read more on Culturally Customized Content in these articles:
- Morphing Into A Foreign Culture
- Translations, Foreign Language Content and Culturally Customized Content
- Customize Your Content For Different Cultures
- What Is Your Culture On The Social Web?
- Who Should You Get To Write Your Foreign Language Web Content
- The 2 Main Reasons Why Companies Do Not Have Good Foreign Language Content
- Multicultural Marketing And Colors
- The Phases Of Cultural Communication You Go Through To Increase International Sales
- Info-Products - Writing For International Readers

Here are a few more Translation Tools articles:
- Translation Friendly International English
- Translation Software - It Is Time To Question Old Truths
- Over The Counter Translation Perfection Not Here Yet
- Translation Agencies’ Narrow Vision
- Translate Server Error
- How To Use Online Translation Tools
- Translation Widgets - A Small Step Towards Website Globalization
- Online Translations Tools Write Bad Sales Copy

And read even more in the…
Get International Clients International Sales Road Map

Culture Customized Content Guide • What is the secret to effective international business development? Read more in this Get International Clients Business Guide

Last week I wrote about how international businesses need to follow the use of translation software.

I am a very strong advocate of using free translation tools for

• Online international market research, followed up by phone research.
• International business or competitive intelligence, combined by human translations when appropriate

So naturally I like to follow how other professionals also use translation software to get a competitive advantage in international business. I wrote about how:

• Translators use translation software to speed up their work.
• Content writers adapt their writing for translation software.

Now, there is one other aspect to international content you should also be aware of.

International English Content

Many international businesses write content in English for international audiences.  These international audiences include a very large percentage of non-native English speakers.

When you write for such a large international audience in English, and you also analyze the feedback from your audience, your writing naturally evolves into a unique style.

This is what I call International English.

• You adapt your writing to avoid common miscommunication problems.
• You also adapt your writing to use words your audience easily understands.

When you get feedback from your audience, you quickly understand where there is misleading content.

• Difficult passages to understand.
• Words your readers stumble on or misinterpret
• Things, concepts, processes, instructions or ideas you do not explain well enough
• Further clarification your readers need

The process of adapting your writing happens very naturally over time.  Your writing acquires cross-cultural communication skills.

Cross-Cultural Communication

In cross-cultural communication there are two key ingredients:

• Clarity
• Consistency

Strong cultural references are also avoided.

Now what does this leave you with?

International English & Translation-Friendly Content

This International English content is also very similar to writing English to be translation-friendly for future software translations. Both methods of writing provide content that is easier to translate using translation tools.

An International English content will get you better results with software translations.

There is also one other point…

International English For Localization

The process of website localization also includes a phase of reviewing content to make it translation-friendly.  This is an important preparation if you want to make it easier for different translations.

Online businesses leverage templates for successful website localizations.  But you need to start off with a good base.

Templates provide easy international expansion tools.  They save businesses time and money.

International English content makes this template process easy.

Start International Business With International English

International English content is the best place to start for either human translations or software translations.

International English content also gets your message across different cultures more effectively.

If you are developing your business into international markets, give International English content your full consideration.

It can:

• Save you money in the short term - avoiding misunderstanding for both clients and translators.
• Provide a much stronger marketing advantage in the long term - the current trend is towards implementing more and more languages.  International English content makes this easier

Read more on Internationalizing Your English in these articles:
- What Flavor Is Your English?
- Adjust Your Own English Communication To Meet Other Language Levels
- Internationalize Your Own Communication
- A Multicultural Writer Gets More International Readers?

Download this free cross-cultural communication tool on Get International Clients and give it a try - Translation Widget

Here are a few more Translation Tools articles:
- Translation Software - It Is Time To Question Old Truths
- Over The Counter Translation Perfection Not Here Yet
- Translate Server Error
- How To Use Online Translation Tools
- Translation Widgets - A Small Step Towards Website Globalization
- Online Translations Tools Write Bad Sales Copy

Guide To Use Free Translation Software Tools • International market research is easier and faster with free translation software Read more in this Get International Client Business Guide

Culture Customized Content Guide • What is the secret to effective international business development? Read more in this Get International Client Business Guide.

Yesterday I wrote about how it is almost time for the general public to question their beliefs that all translation software should be avoided like the plague.

I warned readers not to continue to base their opinions of translation software on old versions.

Even though translation software is still not perfect, people with real translation needs are using what they have today to gain a competitive advantage.

Over The Counter Translation Perfection Not Here Yet

Now, let me say once again, very clearly: free translation software are still NOT perfect.

Translation software still have quality issues.  But it is often good enough for resourceful professionals to use to gain a competitive advantage.

Professional Translators Use Software

First of all, did you know that…

The primary professionals concerned, translators, often use software to help them get their job done faster.  This not only helps them get their job done faster, it also helps them to give competitive rates.

Of course, professional translators always read through their work and add a human touch.  But this is a common practice in many countries.

How You Write

Let’s face it, most readers here want an easy translation solution.  They simply want to press a button and have a perfect translation appear.

Now what if you were to question your original content.

People with exposure to foreign languages will evaluate translation software differently.  They can see where the original content was not written in a “translation friendly” way.

You see, the free translation software available today actually does a fairly good job of translating the facts.  It has two major downfalls:

• It cannot translate the nuances, and emotional or indirect messages.  This is why it is never a good solution of sales materials.
• It still gets stuck in areas where there is a certain communication flavor or quirky syntax.

This is why it is a great international market research tool.  You can quickly get the essence out of the translations, but you will still need to do classic market research to dig deep enough.

Now I am going somewhere with this…

Writing For Translation Software

You see there are professionals with sufficient language experience who can predict where the software will have a hard time translating their texts.  And they have created methods of writing that make it very easy to translate with the translation software.  In very simple terms, they avoid writing the original text with any cultural or language quirkiness.

Yes, quirkiness is the best word I can find to describe it so all of my readers can understand.  These people do use a more precise vocabulary, but you need to study languages to follow them.

And if you want to see what I mean, simply do some international online research using translation tools on a subject you are familiar with.

The areas of the text that are obvious mistakes to you are what I am referring to. And while you are there noticing the obvious mistakes, have a look at everything the translation software got right.

Now some readers here are not familiar with translation. If this is your case, and you are a stickler for perfection, you have to know something. The software may not have used the exact words you would use if you were to write the same text. But give the same big chunk of text to a dozen qualified translators and you will probably get a dozen different variations.

Bending Your Communication To Fit An International Market

Now, aligning your writing to fit with translation software may seem like you are giving up on some marketing power.

The question is, how are you communicating with your international markets?

Next week I will write about how International English is evolving to fit the web communication platform.

Here are a few more Translation Tools articles:
- Translation Friendly International English
- Translation Software - It Is Time To Question Old Truths
- Over The Counter Translation Perfection Not Here Yet
- Translate Server Error
- How To Use Online Translation Tools
- Translation Widgets - A Small Step Towards Website Globalization
- Online Translations Tools Write Bad Sales Copy

Guide To Use Free Translation Software Tools • International market research is easier and faster with free translation software Read more in this Get International Client Business Guide

Culture Customized Content Guide • What is the secret to effective international business development? Read more in this Get International Client Business Guide.

Recently I had yet another request about whether businesses can use free translation software tools.  This last inquiry came from an American without any foreign language exposure.

She had always been told to avoid translation software like the plague.  And her question was, should she look into translation software despite this.

It Is Time To Question Old Truths

Now this is a very interesting detail:

• Translation software = the plague

A couple of clicks research and I found another detail.

• This reader is also obviously old enough to have at least 15 years professional experience behind her.

Now you may wonder why I note this.

Expectations Too High At The Start

The thing is, when translation software first came out it was far from perfect. Much worse than a Micro Soft new product release.  It was hard for most people to imagine actually using it.

The general public quickly labeled translation software as not being worth while.  And this was the right thing to do…then.

The problem is that things have changed.

Drive For Progress

While these same people held on tightly to their first judgments, the translation software environment moved further ahead.

Oh, translation software is still far from perfect.

I have written other articles on how you can use them, so I will not go into that today.  Have a look at the articles listed below.

Here is the key point…

While the general public abandoned the idea of translation software, there was a significant number of companies that needed this to work.  It was vital for them.

You see…

They have massive quantities of information to translate into a large number of languages.  Traditional translation costs were prohibitive.  And even if they did allocate a sufficient amount of money to this budget, there were still stumped with the manpower requirements.  It would take years and years to complete.  Business could not wait.

Now you have to realize that this was not just for a couple of books, and not just sales materials. We are talking about very large information libraries.  Most companies do not have the same problem.

Luckily, these companies are big enough to have the budget to invest in developing and improving translation software.  It also made great business sense.  So that is what they did.

That was a few years ago.  And is still going on.

Further Along The Road To Perfection

The result for us, is that the translation software available today is much, much better than the first software that influenced the general public’s negative opinion.

Younger people are able to evaluate today’s translation software more accurately.

More experienced professionals who categorically refuse to look at translation software today will probably give up their competitive edge in the near future.

International business professionals with more flexible attitudes are already trying to take advantage of the speed and cost efficiency in international business.

When translation software improves just a notch or two further, it might be too late for the old badgers to catch up.

Tomorrow I will write about how people are already using the translation software available today.

Here are a few more Translation Tools articles:
- Translation Friendly International English
- Translation Software - It Is Time To Question Old Truths
- Over The Counter Translation Perfection Not Here Yet
- Translate Server Error
- How To Use Online Translation Tools
- Translation Widgets - A Small Step Towards Website Globalization
- Online Translations Tools Write Bad Sales Copy

Guide To Use Free Translation Software Tools • International market research is easier and faster with free translation software Read more in this Get International Client Business Guide

Culture Customized Content Guide • What is the secret to effective international business development? Read more in this Get International Client Business Guide.

There are many examples of translation and difficulties in cross-cultural communication in the press right now with the Olympics.

I found the photo below at http://adweek.blogs.com/adfreak/2008/07/then-well-grab.html

This company sign is a fine example of why you have to be careful with online translation software.

The original Chinese characters ( 餐厅) should have translated into ‘Restaurant’.

The task of translating only two characters into one word does not seem the most difficult task for a software to do. This translation was obviously done using software, and very little human supervision, if any at all.

A simple cross reference of translating the results back into the original language would have highlighted the error.

This is a fine example of caution necessary when you use translation software to translate into a language that you do not speak.

Download this free cross-cultural communication tool on Get International Clients - Translation Widget

What to read more on how to use Translation Tools? Here are a few articles:
- Translation Friendly International English
- Translation Software - It Is Time To Question Old Truths
- Over The Counter Translation Perfection Not Here Yet
- Translate Server Error
- How To Use Online Translation Tools
- Translation Widgets - A Small Step Towards Website Globalization
- Online Translations Tools Write Bad Sales Copy

And read even more in the…
Get International Clients International Sales Road Map

Guide To Use Free Translation Software Tools • International market research is easier and faster with free translation software Read more in this Get International Clients Business Guide

Culture Customized Content Guide • What is the secret to effective international business development? Read more in this Get International Clients Business Guide

• High Individualism versus High Collectivism Behavior
• Uncertainty Avoidance versus Low Uncertainty Avoidance Behavior
• High Power Distance versus Low Power Distance Behavior
• High Masculinity versus High Femininity Behavior
• High Context versus Low Context Behavior

Important: Read the Basic Guidelines For Using Cross Cultural Communication Web Tools before implementing any of these web tools.

Today we are only going to look at the web tools for the high individualism behavior trait. This is part of the high individualism versus high collectivism behavior scale.

Traits Of High Individualism Cultures

Some cultures are described as being high on the scale of individualism. These cultures have strong beliefs in:

• Personal goals

This is opposed to the other end of this scale, cultures high on the scale of collectivism, which have strong beliefs in:

• Group goals

Cross Cultural Web Tools For High Individualism Cultures

There is more than one cross cultural communication web tool you can use to appeal to each of the different cultural behavioral traits.

Here are the web tools you can use on your website to communicate better with cultures who score high on the behavioral scale of individualism:

How Personalization Helps To Sell Across Culture

When To Use Themes Of Independence In Your Web Communication

Where To Use Your Privacy Policy For Better Online Business Results

The Place For Your USP On Your Website

These 4 web tools respond well to the traits for cultures high on the individualism scale. Read more details for each of these web tools in the articles in the Web Tools For Cultural Communication Guide.

There is lots more on the different cultural behaviors in the June issues of the Get International Clients Weekly Newsletter. Sign up quickly for more tips and ideas for getting more out of your international marketing.

Important Notice

Basic Guidelines For Using This Web Tool

If you have not read the Basic Guidelines For Using Cross Cultural Communication Web Tools as mentioned in the very beginning of this article, please do so before implementing any of these web tools.

You need to look at the whole picture of all five cultural behaviors before tweaking how you use the specific web tools outlined here.

Use these cross cultural web tools to inspire you to improve your web communication with your international clients.

Easy Cross-Cultural Communication

The plugin uses the Google online translation service and translates from any of 24 languages (Arabic, Bulgarian, Chinese (both traditional and simplified), Croatian, Czech, Danish, Dutch, English, Finnish, French, German, Greek, Hindi, Italian, Japanese, Korean, Norwegian, Polish, Portuguese, Romanian, Russian, Spanish, Swedish) into any of the 24.

This installs like any other plugin, and takes advantage of the multiple sidebars that are common now in WordPress. Once installed and activated you go to the widgets section of the design. You decide where the most appropriate place to place is to install your plugin.

For sites not using WordPress, a script is available at Your Free Cross-Cultural Communication Tool - A Translation Widget that can be used on any website.

Download
Latest version (15 August, 2008): translate.zip

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