7 Different Types of Website Translation

When translating a website, marketers seek the help of a Language Service Provider. LSPs then work with a team to decide on which method of translation to use for the benefit of the site’s users.

Here are some website translation methods that your company can use to effectively present your website’s content to your target:

1- Crowd Sourced Translation:

Crowd-sourced translation makes use of individual translators working on the same translation project. Crowdsourcing can be a combination of LSPs, employees, volunteers and freelancers all working towards the same goal: the translation of a website into one or more languages other than English.

This type of translation method benefits the marketer the most, because there is a team and not only one individual who does the translating. The result from each translator is then consolidated to make up the entire website into a multilingual one that is able to reach people who speak the languages the site is translated into.

2- Real-Time Translation (RTT) 

This type of translation method makes use of on-the-spot translation for marketing elements such as chat or help desk, forums, ticketing software information and many others. It is also a more cost-effective method of translation compared to when marketers hire multilingual agents to do the job. Web content and email benefit most from this translation method.

3- Professional Human Translation 

Professional human translation is quite self-explanatory. Companies offer translation services done by their team of multilingual translators who translate websites into several different languages depending on the marketer’s requirement. A team of professional translators who are experts in the marketer’s required translated languages delivers results that are better than any other translation method.

4-Subject Matter Expert Translation 

Subject matter expert translators are as big a part of website or content translation. Websites containing product manuals and user guides, specific topics like engineering, mathematics and science, should be translated by those who have knowledge of the subject. It is hard for someone who does not have a single inkling of anything engineering related to translate an engineering site. What will happen is that the content will be translated verbatim without regard for the subject matter.

5- In-Country Copywriting 

In-country copywriting does not use a source language content. Marketers instead collate documents, files and other important elements and hire translators to author the whole site in the target market’s languages. If the site’s requirement is for several languages, the documents and file will be translated separately into multiple languages.

This method is beneficial for marketers as each language the site is translated into gives regard to the cultural aspect to create a site that the targeted audience can fully understand and relate to. Each language has its own cultural influence, so the content should also be culturally tailored for a more accurate translation and presentation.

6- Transcreation 

This type of translation method is fairly new. It has been coined only in the past ten years. Transcreation means that the translator is given free rein to reorganize the content of the website to effectively get the site’s message across its targeted audience without any confusion on the original language’s content. To be able to effectively translate a website, a transcreationist may restructure the site’s content so that native speakers are able to better understand the site, and if the content has some witty remarks in English, the translation is not lost and does not become a confusing or useless phrase in a native language.

7- Machine Translation with Post Editing 

As the name suggests, translation is done by a machine, with words and phrases in different languages stored in its database. But since machines cannot determine cultural influences in language, they tend to translate verbatim. This is where post-editing comes in. Human translators do the post-editing to ensure translation accuracy. This lessens the translation time done by human translators, as they only have to do some editing and proofreading. Post editing ensures the linguistic quality of the translated site.