How To Translate Your Web Site

Translate Your Web Site

by Al Harberg of DP Directory, Inc.

One of the promises of the Internet is the ability to deliver your sales message to prospects all over the world. While a surprising number of consumers worldwide can read and write English, there are millions of good customers whom you'll never reach unless you deliver your message in their native languages.

The free online translation sites can't produce usable web site translations. While they're handy for translating words and short phrases, they rarely produce readable translations of complete sentences. To test their accuracy, try doing two translations. For example, grab a paragraph or two of your site, and translate it into French. Next, paste your newly-created French translation back into the translation site, and convert it back into English. Don't expect to be able to understand the re-translated English text. And don't expect French prospects to be favorably impressed by the French language translation that you'd created.

As demand for language work rises, many businesses turn to Internet sites such as Elance and Guru. While these web sites work fine for locating computer programmers and commercial artists, it's much more difficult to use them to locate a professional translator because the quality of translation work is much more difficult to evaluate, especially if you don't speak the target language.

ICanLocalize.com provides a valuable alternative to these other translation sites. It retains all the benefits of working directly with professionals, but eliminates the shortcomings.

Much like the general purpose auction translation sites, ICanLocalize lets professional translators place bids and communicate directly with clients. However, once the work starts, all translators use ICanLocalize's translation system, which releases translators from all technical work.

For example, when translating web sites, ICanLocalize's translators don't have to wrestle with HTML, CSS, or other code. The ICanLocalize system separates the text from the code, and reunites them after the translation is complete. This lets translators produce better work on shorter schedules, compared to colleagues who don't have access to such translation systems.

"ICanLocalize makes it easy for us to deliver our sales message to software developers throughout Europe," said Alexander Krivov, Chief Executive Officer of jProductivity, the New York City vendor of the popular Protection! application which software developers use to lock pirates out of their copyrighted software. "Hiring individual translators used to be a hit-or-miss proposition. Today, ICanLocalize delivers professional translations that I can rely upon."

Some business people hesitate to create, say, an Italian version of their English-language web site because they're worried that they'll receive pre-sale inquiries or post-sale questions in Italian. ICanLocalize has a quick and inexpensive solution to the problem. For very little money, the service will translate your incoming Italian language inquiries into English, and then translate your response into Italian. ICanLocalize supports a large and growing number of languages.

Only certified professional translators are registered in ICanLocalize and can bid on projects. ICanLocalize provides a full guarantee for the quality and schedule of each project. Their self-service system handles translation for complete web sites and short text translation, and even allows customer support interpretation.

Payment for all work is done via ICanLocalize's escrow system. Clients only authorize payment when projects are completed to their full satisfaction, and on time. ICanLocalize offers a unique combination of quality translation work, low costs, and quick schedules.

To create a translation project, simply sign up for a free account. Posting a project is also without charge, and clients only need to deposit payment in escrow when a translator is selected.

You can read more about this service at http://www.icanlocalize.com.