If you’re running into hurdles trying to secure that increase in your 2015 localization budget, you’re not alone. Upper management often undervalues the effort, resources and budget required to successfully adapt products to international markets. So how can you capture their attention and convince them of the phenomenal impact that translation can have on your company’s profit margins?
Changing translation partners midstream may seem like a complete impossibility when you're moving full-steam ahead towards an international launch — but if you’re not getting the translation quality your brand deserves, it's an imperative. Luckily, making the transition doesn’t have to be complicated. In this post, we’ll take a look at some good reasons for switching to a new translation partner and five tips to make the transition as smooth as possible.
For over 15 years, Acclaro West Coast Operations Manager Lydia Clarke has helped leading international companies localize their corporate websites. In this blog post, Lydia shares four of the top considerations for an international-bound website, touching on coding languages, content management, language navigation and currency.
English-to-Japanese translation is in demand as American companies vie for mindshare in one of the world’s leading economies. In this blog post, we’ll take a look at the intricacies of the Japanese language and recommend an approach to the translation process that will produce stellar results, both linguistically and economically for your business.
If you’ve got a lot invested in your creative content — whether it serves to convert prospects, carve out your brand niche or carefully groom your burgeoning international reputation — transcreation will be an unavoidable pit stop on your path to global.
One popular misconception about the world of translation is the degree to which machine translation (MT) will one day transform linguists into the next class of panhandlers disrupted by the miracles of modern technology. While automated translation tools online have made significant gains in the arena of basic communication, they remain impractical for the gold standard messages business rely on to build brand, differentiate their voice, and connect with customers.
There are, however, situations where MT can offer significant time and cost savings over pure human translation. If your translation agency has recommended you consider MT, you’ve probably brought them a sizable project that meets specific criteria. How sizable? Try more than a million words.
So what can you do to further smooth the way for your big translation project? In this post we’ll talk about some simple preparations you can make to feed the machine.
Translators don't get the recognition they oftentimes deserve. They have the power to make or break the language that powers your international branding. In this blog post, we'll explore the role of the translator and how we select our translators at Acclaro.
Have you been tasked with overseeing a video translation project? Do you feel overwhelmed and/or unsure of how to begin? The most important thing for you to know is how to select the right video translation partner for your project needs and goals. In this post, we'll review five criteria to consider.
This week we continue our mission to help your company’s next translation project flow smoothly from one market to the next. As is so often the case, our greatest barrier to global success is often our own misunderstanding of how translation and localization projects work. There’s no reason to let a few specious assumptions stand in the way of your company and new international customers.
Picking up where we left off in part one of our series on translation myth busting, part two tackles some of the more technical misconceptions. Together we’ll cover D-I-Y translation, technical QA, glossaries, translation memory and machine translation as we round out the top ten misconceptions about translation.
Why does quality matter when you are comparing translation agencies? And how can you know what quality you'll end up with? What defines a quality-oriented translation process? And why isn't an "accurate" translation good enough? We'll answer these questions and more in this blog post on quality assurance.
Startups going global and American brands preparing for their first international launch are all eager to make their best first impression. When something goes wrong, the source of the problem can usually be traced to misconceptions about translation. Even large-scale, mission-critical projects are susceptible to stumbling, as evidenced by the recent Spanish-language website designed to support the Affordable Care Act. A toxic combination of translation myths frustrated users and undermined trust, sending the unfortunate message that serving Spanish speakers was not a top priority.
Sometimes success is defined by getting out of the way of your own preconceptions. In that spirit, we’ll cover the top ten misconceptions about translation in this two-part series. If you’re preparing to introduce your company to international customers, these tips might just spare you expensive and embarrassing errors.
The big story in eCommerce in 2014 is the increase in mobile shopping. From Black Friday and CyberMonday around the globe to sweetheart spending in Asia, a significant shift from desktop and laptop eCommerce to tablet and smartphone is well underway.
This move has big implications for eCommerce design and localization, and if your company has global commerce in mind, you’ll want to consider these trends for your next redesign or pending launch. In this article we’ll look at seven eCommerce design trends originally featured by Armondo Roggio at PracticaleCommerce.com and how they could impact your eCommerce localization strategy.
¿Cómo se dice "disaster" en español? The U.S. national healthcare exchange website launch has been plagued with problems in more than just English.
As thousands found out this winter, “CuidadoDeSalud.gov” was considerably less fluent than it needed to be to serve Spanish-only populations in the U.S.
The Spanish version of the enrollment website provides a cautionary tale on the topic of localization, machine translation (MT), and why quality assurance is a must.
Based on headlines alone, China seems to swing between topics of political censorship and economic growth. And it’s true — there are turbulent social, political, and economic forces at work in China today, especially as the middle class rises and the “Great Chinese Internet Firewall” becomes increasingly porous. For both reasons, China should be on your radar if you have international expansion plans for your business.
But how much do you know about the Chinese language? If you want to serve Chinese customers, which written version is right for your website, and what about the optimal spoken dialect?
In this article we’ll talk about all of these choices and take a look at what Wikipedia has learned since launching Chinese Wikipedia in 2002. It might be just what you need to inform your strategy in China.
Design might transcend language, but that doesn't mean your talented team of graphic designers is happy about working in languages they can't read. If your global expansion has you using English to Chinese translation for banner ads, Spanish for corporate websites, or Arabic for your eCommerce site, chances are the once seemingly straightforward design complex has become much more complex. Looking for ways to put a smile on your design team's face and save on your translation budget? Read on for our three top tips to streamline design with a global audience.
Internationalization and localization. To the uninitiated they sound interchangeable, jargon deployed in the profitable process of exporting software to new international markets. Abbreviated i18n (internationalization) and l10n (localization), they have specific definitions which you’ll want to understand if you’re contemplating turning your app or service into a brand with global reach.
If you’ve ever wondered what the difference is, this short overview will clarify the particulars and help provide a framework for what to expect when you work with a translation agency to expand your market overseas. We’ll take a look at their definitions, their scope, and the teams who have a part in the process.
First time managing a global launch of your website, software, or documentation? Fear not. Ensuring a successful global launch is possible with a little up-front preparation. From determining the key players on your team to developing reference materials to understanding the technology behind the process, today’s post gives you some tips to help take the worry out of going global, and our newsletter article (linked inside) goes into more detail. Take a deep breath and dive in!
To ensure a successful global website launch, it’s good to consider some issues early on in the process, such as your own content management system’s (CMS) infrastructure and capabilities for handling multilingual content, the relevancy of your content for your global users, and the general tone and style you want to impart in translation. If you’re preparing to launch your site internationally, today’s post gives you some good starting points, and links to our more detailed newsletter article on the same topic.
Left to right, right to left — what difference does it make? When it comes to translating bidirectional languages, it can be a pretty big one. And if you want to expand your software business into the Middle East, Malaysia or Indonesia, it helps to understand the differences. Unlike English, bidirectional (or BiDi) languages like Arabic, Hebrew, Urdu and Farsi read from right to left instead of left to right. Although it might seem easy enough to just switch directions for your Arabic or Hebrew translation, bidirectional languages can present some technical challenges. Here are some things to think about before you get started on a bidirectional translation project.
Are you planning to go to Europe this summer? On vacation or expanding your business? Dubrovnik? Paris? Frankfort? We've got a few tips to make your trip (and your localization project) a smoother and more enjoyable one.
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