CindyInternational Web Marketing & Translation Tools
I have a translation widget on Get International Clients which is becoming popular and also generating some response from…translation agencies.
The translation agencies obviously want to keep their break buttered. But I sometimes wonder if the translators that get all huffy over a translation widget live in the real world.
Why don’t I ever run across an article from a translation agency on how and when to use free translation tools?
As I speak a few languages fluently I have often been asked to translate all sorts of documents. I do recognize the full value of human translations.
I even used to translate a magazine for one of Jacques Cousteau’s companies when I first came to France ages ago and even had a hand at simultaneous translation with them as well. Having left the Bahamas a few years prior I enjoyed the reading everything about the sea. And I did it evenings and weekends for pleasure.
But it is my experience in sales, marketing and business development that has shaped me. I have been given responsibilities without budget and had to get things done. When you are in international business, you need things done immediately, and you do not want any form of cultural blunder, translation related or not.
What’s my first choice in getting something translated? I would hunt down a native professional whose real world job includes writing what I need. Yes, translators can do a great job. A real professional, working and living in the country does it better.
Software Limitations
Of course you should not expect a free software translation to give you an error free translation. Above everything else, you should never use this type of translation for any sales materials. I write about this extensively both here and on Get International Clients
But you are living in the dark ages if you think every company is going to pay a translator or hire full time staff, for all of their translation needs.
Keep Up-To-Date With Progress
The fact is that software translation has made leaping bounds in progress. There are real companies, with large budgets that need translation solutions today.
Not only is human translation too expensive for them. But it is far too slow.
These companies invest into the research and development of professional translation software. This leads to regular improvements in the free software.
International Marketing Needs Today
The development of professional translation software is not my specialty. I’m interested in marketing and business development, now. Small businesses come to me for help and advice on international business development.
These are often online businesses. What they need first is market research. The free translation widgets are great for this. Of course you have to read them as software translations.
But the free software translations will help you a lot in your international market research. They will give you guidelines, trends and information to follow up with the phone research which is what I find critical.
Successful international business development will always require professional writing in foreign languages for all communication with your international clients.
Out-Of-Date Responses
Translators with narrow vision seem to go hand in hand with the business owners I meet who never take action. These business owners usually come back to me with two excuses:
- They lack the funds to develop their company the way people did 20 years ago.
- They think there is too much risk involved.
Free software translation tools, when used correctly for the first phase of extensive international market research, play a significant role to reduce these two excuses into something more manageable.
Further Musings
After completing the series on web tools for different cultural behaviors on Get International Clients, I find it amusing that most of the comments showing resistance to using free translation tools come from cultures classified unfriendly to change.
And also probably people who want a fast link and using contrariety tactics. A pity. My clients need translators that will work with them.
I wonder if people show their age rather than a lack of international marketing savvy when they totally reject free translation tools.
Let’s see how far this type of software progresses in the next couple of years. There are companies, with the money to invest, counting on real solutions…fast.
Read more International Web Marketing articles here:
- Ways To Enter International Marketing
- How Too Many Contributions Spoil International Communications
- My Own Case Study - Small Business Flexibility In An Online World
- What Is Your Definition Of International Web Marketing
- Translation Agencies’ Narrow Vision
And read even more in the…
Get International Clients International Sales Road Map
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International Web Marketing• Do you know how to pull all of your different international marketing pieces together? |
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Cultural Web Tools• How can you connect faster with your international clients? |
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