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ANA PATINO-OSORNO WROTE:
> I am collecting up some statistics on the advantage of
> translating various types of web sites into Spanish.
> I am interested in any positive results anyone has had
> after having a web site translated to reach the Spanish
> speaking market.
TO WHICH ELISABETH ROCHE REPLIED:
> I have a friend with a site out of Hermosillo, Mexico.
> He finds a lot of his customers are using the AltaVista
> auto translator to send their messages. Since one of
> the first messages sent by all is *How old are you?* he
> found this hysterical result occurring.
>
> Translation said: Cuatos anos hay?
>
> Well, this apparently means *how many of *the places
> the sun don't shine* do you have? Not exactly what
> people meant to say on introduction, say what?
TO WHICH MICHELLE ZELSMAN REPLIED:
> I'd like to offer some words of wisdom to language
> translation: Cuidado! (Be Careful!!) I used to work
> for an organization that translated nearly all of its
> advertising from English into Spanish. We used a
> professional translating service, and while the
> translations were always what I would call book
> correct, the challenge was with the different dialects.
Definitely sound advice. I think we'll all need to
become more concerned about this as the globalization
of the web becomes more important (when the US market
gets saturated within a couple years, everyone's going
to need to go global if they haven't already).
Even major companies have hit stumbling blocks when hit
with this situation. How do you promote a car that
"doesn't go"? That's what Chevy tried to figure out in
Latin America with the Nova ("No va").
It doesn't stop with language, though. Other issues
include, but certainly are not limited to, customs and
traditions. Even color schemes can cause problems (i.e.
yellow might inspire fear in one country, but
peacefulness in another). However, as Michelle
mentioned, you won't have this problem if you know your
audience.
The most important issue I can stress is that you
shouldn't enter into this lightly. I saw one site that
tried to appeal to a global audience by listing
multiple languages. Unfortunately, it turned out that
site just used software that automatically translates
it (that's right: no human intervention in the
translation). This is bad because, while the visitors
probably get the general idea from the site, they're
not getting a truly personal touch, and they're running
across various grammatical mistakes and issues with
company and product names, not to mention the
aforementioned customs/traditions problems that are
sure to occur as a result of automatic translation.
If you're serious about translating, make sure to
invest the necessary time in making sure it's pulled
off properly. Check out the countries you're aiming at
(what others have done with them before, how the people
think and act, what they're interested in, etc.), look
at the potential demographics, and make sure you've got
someone who knows about these areas doing the
translating (read: not someone with 4 years of high
school spanish and a spanish/english dictionary, but
rather someone who understands the little
idiosyncrasies of the language/people you're trying to
appeal to).
If you do the necessary research, you can find out what
potential translation has. Is there a market for this
site in another language? Will people visit an
Americanized site that's been translated, or do we need
to come up with a new layout? If the information isn't
globalized, can we get information that appeals to
people in other countries (would someone in Mexico
rather know what's going on in Connecticut, or do they
want to know what's happening in Mexico City)? Is
(country here) too vastly different from (country here)
in the audience we're targeting that we'd need to
create a site for both? What is the ROI on this project
(will the money invested be returned through site
success)? Can we get advertising that appeals to
visitors from these countries (assuming advertising is
a revenue source for that site)? These are among the
many questions you'd need to ask before venturing into
translation of a site.
In the end, it comes down to quality of the end product
and the quantity of the end users. When visiting a site
with improper english, I know I'm not apt to be all
that impressed with it. Thinking of it that way, you'll
probably come across that same feeling from people who
come across sites with improper spanish. Additionally,
if there's no potential market (note: potential, not
existing - it's possible to create a market if you know
there's potential, and being among the first to get
there will be at least somewhat helpful in the longrun)
for the site in spanish, it'd be a waste of time and
money to translate it.
Shane Sacobie
VGF.Net
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Received on Mon Jan 31 2000 - 20:34:06 CST
