Multi Language Translations for websites.

Multi Language Translations in Glasgow, Scotland, and UK

Increasingly businesses are looking at ways they can service the wider community through their websites. One such way is to include numerous language translations. But what should be translated and how many languages should the website content be translated into ? How should those languages be displayed so that the user who speaks a certain language will recognise the one they speak?

How much of your website should you translate ?

The answer to this question very much depends on what your business is and how you want to interact with your customers / site visitors. e.g. if you are the Scottish Parliament then perhaps you would want to translate your website into many languages and perhaps you may want to translate the entire website. However, if you are a small business, you may only want to translate an overview of your website. Perhaps the content of this overview could be advice on what to do next to find out more about your products and services.

See Glasgow School of English.

Many businesses follow this route and in doing so show that they care about their foreign language speaking website visitors instead of assuming they all speak English.

How Should Language links be displayed

OK - There is more to this than perhaps first meets the eye. On some websites you will see the use of country flags, but what if a certain country's population is made up of diverse ethnic groups who all speak different languages ? Simply using a flag will not suffice. Switzerland is a case in point - they have at least 3 languages; German, Italian, and French.

The answer is you should use the name of the language translated into that particular language. Unfortunately though it is not as simple as that. Not all browsers have the necessary font installed to display a translated text properly. So we suggest that the link should actually be a graphical representation of the word for that particular language.

Why ? Well if someone is browsing and comes to your website but they do not have the required font installed on their browser then they will see a lot of gobbledygook. This tells the website visitor nothing. See below for more tips. It is paramount that they can read the text - it sounds simple but many websites do not take this into account

Want to find out more ?

Call us on 0141 332 7144 or alternatively contact us through our online contact form.

1.For the link to the page or pages of translated text, use the name of the language translated into that language and not a country flag.

2. Create this link as an image - that way if someone doesn't have the necessary font installed on their browser they will still be able to read the link.

3. Create 2 versions of the page or pages that have been translated. One page in actual website text and one as a graphical representation of the page of text.

4. At the top of the page containing the actual translated text as text on the page - create a graphic in that language that says something like "if your browser does not display this page properly please select on this link" - Then link this graphic to the page that is a graphical representation of the translated text.

5. Perhaps consider this also. Create a link to a download area that contains the relevant font for the page. Having said this, if your website visitor speaks a certain language and regularly browse the internet then there is a good chance they will already have the necessary font installed on their system.

Contact us to find out more ?