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Digg it UP - Website Content for Foreign Audience: Writing for Translation
In 2004 O'Reilly Media coined a phrase Web 2.0 which refers to proposed second generation of web based services that include:1. Social networking sites: Social networks connect people with all different types of interests, and one area that is expanding in the use of these networks is the corporate environment. Businesses are beginning to use social networks as a means to connecting employees together and helping employees to build profiles2. Wikis: are websites that allows the visitors to easily add, remove, and
Before translating your website content, it would be reasonable to "test" it. You can find a person from the country you're going to launch the site for, and ask him to proofread the t
According to Nielsen, at the time of this writing there are more than 28 million blogs on the Internet, with more than 43,000 new blogs and 600,000 blog posts being created in the last 24 hours alone. By any analytical standard blogging has obviously developed into a powerful communication medium. However the question remains do the numbers in-and-of-themselves mean that blogging is right for everyone?I have read many a commentary that state something akin to “Blog or Die” with the message behind these doomsday propagand
Surprisingly many people think that creating, say, a website in other language means just to translate the existing English version into Chinese, Arabic, Russian, or some other language. Good translation by all means is very important – a professional translator will do his best to convey your message to the audience. But what about the message itself -- will it work?
No matter whether you are going to launch a website in Chinese, Arabic, Russian, or some other language, there are things you can't afford to neglect.
Remember: your website is not for you.
It is for VISITORS. So it is logical to consider what THEY think such websites should be like. It is their points of view that matter, not yours.
Who is your reader?
When writing in English, say, Web content or a document, you keep in mind WHO you are writing for -- and you are quite right. Your goal is to inform, to appeal, to persuade, to prove… It remains the same when you are addressing people from other countries. The difference is that sometimes it is necessary to change the very approach to your audience as well as the style.
Several simple tips of foreigner-friendly writing
What to begin with when writing for a person from another culture? To be as culture-neutral as possible - and more people will understand you. Here is what you can do:
- Avoid slang, idioms, proverbs and sayings. They are YOURS, not theirs. Allusions to books they probably haven't read, quotations, however familiar they are to you -- all that most likely won't work.
- Forget about wordplay and puns when writing something to be translated. Your jokes also might turn to be not so funny in other language.
- Be cautious with metaphors and similes (comparisons). Pretty clear and familiar to YOU, for others they might be not so obvious.
- Symbols can mean something very different in other cultures. If you can't do without one, find out what it means THERE.
- Abbreviations and acronyms are tricky, too – they may be unknown to your audience.
- Pay some attention to things you think everybody knows or likes -- your audience might neither know nor care for them.
Before translating your website content, it would be reasonable to "test" it. You can find a person from the country you're going to launch the site for, and ask him to proofread the te
Are you frustrated with your affiliate programs?I used to be. Very frustrated! One day, in sheer desperation, I wrote to one of my affiliate programs and suggested that the market was now saturated with their product - it was no longer possible to sell it.The next day I received a very nice reply. "The Internet is HUGE", they said. "We predict it will be five years before the market is saturated with our product. And long before that, we will have introduced our next product." They were right, of course. The probl
No matter whether you are going to launch a website in Chinese, Arabic, Russian, or some other language, there are things you can't afford to neglect.
Remember: your website is not for you.
It is for VISITORS. So it is logical to consider what THEY think such websites should be like. It is their points of view that matter, not yours.
Who is your reader?
When writing in English, say, Web content or a document, you keep in mind WHO you are writing for -- and you are quite right. Your goal is to inform, to appeal, to persuade, to prove… It remains the same when you are addressing people from other countries. The difference is that sometimes it is necessary to change the very approach to your audience as well as the style.
Several simple tips of foreigner-friendly writing
What to begin with when writing for a person from another culture? To be as culture-neutral as possible - and more people will understand you. Here is what you can do:
- Avoid slang, idioms, proverbs and sayings. They are YOURS, not theirs. Allusions to books they probably haven't read, quotations, however familiar they are to you -- all that most likely won't work.
- Forget about wordplay and puns when writing something to be translated. Your jokes also might turn to be not so funny in other language.
- Be cautious with metaphors and similes (comparisons). Pretty clear and familiar to YOU, for others they might be not so obvious.
- Symbols can mean something very different in other cultures. If you can't do without one, find out what it means THERE.
- Abbreviations and acronyms are tricky, too – they may be unknown to your audience.
- Pay some attention to things you think everybody knows or likes -- your audience might neither know nor care for them.
Before translating your website content, it would be reasonable to "test" it. You can find a person from the country you're going to launch the site for, and ask him to proofread the t
Let's talk about some numbers and how they relate to network marketing. They are equally applicable to marketing on the internet or to offline marketing.Specifically, we are going to talk about the 80/20 rule, the rule of 2, the rule of 7, and location, location, location.Huh? That last one isn't about numbers!Well, it sorta is. We'll get there in a while.In the meantime, let's start with the 80/20 rule.Several years ago, a major financial services institution conducted a study to de
Several simple tips of foreigner-friendly writing
What to begin with when writing for a person from another culture? To be as culture-neutral as possible - and more people will understand you. Here is what you can do:
- Avoid slang, idioms, proverbs and sayings. They are YOURS, not theirs. Allusions to books they probably haven't read, quotations, however familiar they are to you -- all that most likely won't work.
- Forget about wordplay and puns when writing something to be translated. Your jokes also might turn to be not so funny in other language.
- Be cautious with metaphors and similes (comparisons). Pretty clear and familiar to YOU, for others they might be not so obvious.
- Symbols can mean something very different in other cultures. If you can't do without one, find out what it means THERE.
- Abbreviations and acronyms are tricky, too – they may be unknown to your audience.
- Pay some attention to things you think everybody knows or likes -- your audience might neither know nor care for them.
Before translating your website content, it would be reasonable to "test" it. You can find a person from the country you're going to launch the site for, and ask him to proofread the t
Take a few moments to consider this: if you could increase the performance of your staff by just 5%, what difference would this make to your company?It is useful to remember that organisations are not successful, it is the people who work there that are successful. It is people that drive the business forwards, slow it down, or even put in into reverse! Dig into any organisational problem and you are likely to find people. Conflict, stress, misunderstanding, poor communication skills, resistance, low morale and low produ
- Avoid slang, idioms, proverbs and sayings. They are YOURS, not theirs. Allusions to books they probably haven't read, quotations, however familiar they are to you -- all that most likely won't work.
- Forget about wordplay and puns when writing something to be translated. Your jokes also might turn to be not so funny in other language.
- Be cautious with metaphors and similes (comparisons). Pretty clear and familiar to YOU, for others they might be not so obvious.
- Symbols can mean something very different in other cultures. If you can't do without one, find out what it means THERE.
- Abbreviations and acronyms are tricky, too – they may be unknown to your audience.
- Pay some attention to things you think everybody knows or likes -- your audience might neither know nor care for them.
Before translating your website content, it would be reasonable to "test" it. You can find a person from the country you're going to launch the site for, and ask him to proofread the t
You’ve probably heard the normal response to any bulk mail out in business ranges from 0.5% to 1% -- any more is often regarded as a very good result. You can increase the odds in your favour with savvy targeting.You see, this low ‘normal response’ is usually because the mail shot is sent to a list of names or contacts that is not qualified or targeted. It’s like taking a handful of seed and scattering them on the ground and hoping some will take root, before being eaten by the birds.‘PREPARING THE GROUND’
Before translating your website content, it would be reasonable to "test" it. You can find a person from the country you're going to launch the site for, and ask him to proofread the text. Not for spelling or grammar, of course -- for understandability. By the way, you can ask the translator to do that. If he is a native speaker who lives in this country, he surely knows your target audience -- probably better than you do. A good translator's opinion is pretty valuable, though you can get it for free. Just don't forget ask for it BEFORE the translator begins working.
Things you'd better find out before your Website content is translated:
Is the content easy-to-read, persuasive, or whatever you expected from it? Did you chose the right approach to your audience? Will the text sound "foreign" even after translation?
Finding the right translator
It is up for you to choose among hundreds of translation agencies and thousands of freelance translators. Even if you are dealing with an agency, it would be good to know who will be doing the job. If you can, get a well-educated native speaker of the language you are going to have your text translated into (it is called "target language"). Why well-educated? Well, he will be more likely to have good vocabulary in his mother tongue. People who can't express their thoughts well enough in their native language make mediocre translators.
Why native? The reason is that nobody can ever say: "I have learned this language" – only "I have been learning". We all have been learning our mother tongues since birth. That is why native speakers have an advantage. Besides, a native speaker often has precious knowledge about your target audience and will help you with good advice.
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