International Marketing Widget

Translation Tools

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