Q: I am interested in expanding my small online business to reach customers who speak foreign languages. What do I need to do to get started?
A. It's no secret that customers prefer to have content presented in their native language, and all things being equal will choose a company that provides localized content over one that does not.
With worldwide Internet usage increasing, providing local content for global customers can provide your company with a powerful competitive advantage. But before you invest time and money converting your online store into other languages, you must decide whether offering multilingual content makes good business sense. For example, are you already selling overseas, or to foreign language speaking customers? Has your business tested which foreign markets perform best in terms of your type of business and e-commerce sales?
The following items should be considered when you evaluate your needs:
- Decide which foreign language(s) you should support. It may be easier to start off supporting a few languages such as German, Spanish and Japanese -- countries where online shopping and e-commerce are well supported -- and progress to other markets as your business grows. (Keep in mind that if you support a foreign language, you should also support the appropriate currency.)
- Make sure you provide sophisticated content. Don't make the mistake of oversimplifying your content -- it may be easier to translate from plain language, but if it comes across as condescending or amateurish, you'll turn off many customers.
- As long as your site is being displayed to your international customers in their own language, expect them to want to communicate with you via e-mail or phone in that language as well. In order to meet the customer service needs of foreign-speaking customers, consider contracting with a customer service center that employs native speakers, or hire someone to translate the communications (e-mail only) between English and that specific foreign language.
Many companies will handle language localization for small businesses, including dialects and customs. When considering a translating service, be sure to work with a native of the language you're translating into, and visit other sites translated by the company you choose to make sure the translation is of a high quality.
The following list includes several companies that can handle language translation for small businesses. While by no means an exhaustive list, as there are hundreds of companies in this business, it's certainly a good place to start.
- Web-Translations : Offers translation and localization services as well as foreign market testing and promotion.
- SYSTRAN Standard 4.0: Natural language translation software for small businesses; priced at $299 per language kit.
- Spectranode: Full service translation agency focused on delivering comprehensive multilingual solutions in over 40 languages. Prices are based per word translated, and range from $.10 to $.20 per word, depending on the language.
- eTranslate: Offers globalization, culturalization, and localization expertise; used by some of the bigger names in e-commerce such as eBay, however they also cater to small companies.
Expert Q&A: Converting Your Site to Foreign Languages