March 2007 - Global View Newsletter
DON'T FORGET THE SMALL STUFF
Let’s face it; the American culture has been spoiled when it comes to global communication. We've been at the forefront of the new age technologies, we've developed some of the most advanced medical systems in the world, we are seen by the world as a massive buying force and until now, we’ve been able to ride on these successes without having to be much of a multilingual nation.
True, the United States is a major buying factor in the world. True, when we are on the buying end, we can expect transactions to be made in English. However, if we are still tempted to believe that we are the only player in this global economy, maintaining this ignorance for much longer will be catastrophic. Open your eyes to the power behind China and India and you’ll see how small the U.S. is truly becoming.
Time and time again, companies entering a global market will say, “Oh, we don’t need language support or translation services, everyone knows the global language of business is English.” One little hint: the world does not speak English, and when you are on the selling end, they really don’t speak English (even if they do)!
The multilingual communication efforts are not completely lost however. With some staggering statistics recently published, many companies are beginning to branch out. One avenue many organizations are using to test the international waters is via the Internet.
Global Reach has published statistics showing that 50.4% of Web Users speak a native language other than English and 43% of web users do not speak English at all. Of the 516.7 million non-English speaking users that have Internet access, 276 million speak European languages, 102.6 million speak Chinese, 69.7 million speak Japanese and 65.6 million speak Spanish.
So, if your company is one of the many hoping to reach out to the vast internet buying market by breaking the barriers of language (English that is), do it right. Simple website translation services is not going to bring the big bucks and above all else, adding a machine translation version to your site will do more harm than good in almost all cases. It is not professional, it is not accurate, and will not convey the established image that has taken so much time and effort to develop. In order to get off to the right start, here are 5 often-missed steps to consider when choosing to communicate multilingually via the web.
ONE. When marketing on the web, don’t forget to consider phone numbers, addresses and currencies. Remember, not all countries are set up like the U.S. They don’t have the same address and phone styles and they don’t use the same currencies. Make sure that if there is a support line listed, that there is multilingual there is an internationally accessible line. Many companies don’t realize up front that 800 or toll free numbers don’t work in other countries and that if their site is in Chinese, the reader will assume that there is Chinese support on the other end. Make sure to indicate what currency the reflected price is in and specify what types of currency are accepted.
TWO. The world does not respond to the same imagery, graphics, styles, layouts and themes we do. Take a close look at the pictures. If they are all of Anglo-Saxons and you are targeting the Hispanic market, you may be turning off potential buyers subconsciously. Get to know what colors are hot in the localized market. Understand if they prefer the header at the top or on the right or left side. These are small considerations, but if not made up front, can hurt the effort entirely or add major cost after the fact.
THREE. Look at the space that is available. Many languages expand up to 40% upon translation. Are there abbreviations? If there isn’t enough room in the layout, costly revisions will have to be incorporated after the fact.
FOUR. Test the fonts. Not all fonts and entry methods are the same as those in the English language. Many Middle Eastern languages read right to left. Many fonts aren’t single byte, but
double byte. Is there text in the images, is it editable? How will this affect the site?
FIVE. Establish a plan of site optimization in its target market. Consider local keyword searches, tags and descriptors. Does the area your targeting have fast or slow lines? Are you using a new technology in site development that isn’t readily available or widely used in the market area?
Although there are many other elements to consider when deciding to branch out internationally via the web, the above mentioned items seem to be the most ignored, but are often the most crucial.
If ever there was a time to compete globally, now is it. Don’t let multilingual and multicultural communication be your Achilles heel. Plan now to be a leader in globalization by taking the right steps toward success. Do your part to show that U.S. companies are linguistically and culturally savvy and will compete knowing that English is not the only language of the world.
U.S. Translation Company: Superior quality Interpretation and Translation Services in over 100 Languages!
