You’re planning to
initiate a multilingual website translation project with your language service provider
(LSP). But how do you know which website translation method is the right fit
for your project—and your business?
Generally speaking,
there are four ways to share content from your web content management system
(WCMS) with your LSP to initiate your localization project. They are:
Keep in mind that the
method you select will also define key processes and functionalities within
your localization project workflow. So you’ll want to weigh your options
carefully to choose the one that best meets your project needs and business
requirements.
Choosing the right website translation method:
Key issues to consider
Deciding on the best
approach for you and your business depends on several factors. As you explore
your options, you may find it helpful to keep your answers to some of these
questions in mind:
·
Do you create, review, and approve your source-language content
directly within your CMS platform, or do you use Microsoft Word or Excel to
route content?
·
Are there others in your company who will manage the website
localization process with your LSP, or is that a new responsibility for your
team?
·
What is the typical update cadence for your website’s main
content types?
·
How quickly are you required to publish those updates once
you’ve received the requests?
·
Is it necessary that your translated content goes live
simultaneously across multiple language sites?
·
Is your CMS a candidate for integrating with your LSP’s
translation management system via integration technology?
·
To what extent can your CMS be described as having multilingual
content management capabilities? (True multilingual content management means
more than supporting the Unicode* standard. It includes the ability to
synchronize the same content across a multitude of languages—among other key
functionalities.)
Note: Overview descriptions
of the methodologies described below represent industry best practices where
applicable, but LSP solutions will vary.
*The
Unicode standard: According to the Unicode Consortium, “Unicode provides a unique number for every
character, no matter what the program, no matter what the language.”
What
is it?
Available for many
prominent CMSs, integration technologies integrate with your CMS system to
enable you to select and transfer content to your LSP for translation. By
automating source- and target-language file transfers to and from your LSP’s
translation management system, CMS integration solutions help you streamline
workflows and boost efficiencies.
How
does it work?
Some integration
technology platforms are quite robust, enabling users to automate the
selection, transfer, retrieval, and monitoring of content for localization from within your multilingual WCMS
itself. And industry-leading integration solutions typically serve up unique
user interfaces (UIs) in the same environment you use to write content about a
new product, for example.
CMS integration technology is typically configured in one of two ways (or
a combination of the two). Plug-in-based or middleware-brokered technologies primarily differ based on where
the business logic for the integration software is hosted. Plug-in-based
solutions reside as extensions within your CMS, whereas middleware-brokered
versions live outside your CMS—yet interact with your content in a variety of
ways.
When the content you want localized is ready, you simply select
it and send it for translation from the integration software’s unique UI—which
automatically transfers it to your LSP’s translation management system.
Then, once it’s been localized and reviewed, your translated content is
transferred from your LSP’s system to its proper location in your multilingual
WCMS. From there it can be pushed live to a production server to be accessed by
site visitors via their chosen channel—and in their preferred language.
How
do I know if it’s right for me?
CMS integration technology is particularly helpful if you’re
managing medium-to-large deployments with several multilingual websites and
lots of dynamic content. It’s also useful for organizations requiring rapid
time-to-market and frequent, immediate site updates—as well as environments
with multiple content owners, contributors, editors, and stakeholders. If your system is optimized for
multilingual translation workflows, ask your LSP if you can connect
directly to their translation management system via CMS integration.
What
else do I need to know?
It’s a highly automated approach that facilitates the creation
of efficient, multilingual web presences—while enabling in-context layout and asset reviews for you and
in-country staff via a staging server. CMS integration vendor capabilities will
vary, so you’ll want to do some research to make sure your solution is secure,
scalable, and reliable. Also, think neutral. Stay away from solutions that lock
you into working with a single provider or technology. Vendor lock-in due to technology integration can make
switching to a new provider an expensive and time-consuming proposition.
Translation proxy technology
What
is it?
Translation proxy server technology is a cloud-based
approach that enables LSPs to easily create and manage globally consistent
websites in any language. The translation proxy server sits between your main
website and global audiences. Traffic from your localized sites is routed
through the translation proxy when site visitors request pages in other
languages. All target-language translations are hosted on these proxy
sites—while your source language content remains on your main site.
How
does it work?
The LSP’s translation proxy server software “scrapes,” or
“crawls,” your main website (much like a search engine), ingesting strings of
text and XML/HTML page code. The strings are queued for localization in the
LSP’s translation management system and the text strings are localized by a
professional translator. (You can also choose other translation methods such as
machine translation with human post-editing.) The files are cached with the
corresponding localized versions replacing the original page source text. The
process is replicated periodically to update local sites when edits are made to
the main site.
Traffic from your local site is routed through the translation
proxy, which is essentially a software layer that sits between your global
visitors’ sites and your main or “source” language site. As visitors browse
your multilingual proxied sites, page requests are routed back to the source
site. Source-language content is then seamlessly replaced by previously
translated target-language content as it passes back through the proxy.
How
do I know if it’s right for me?
Translation proxy is best suited for companies that want to go
global with standardized, relatively non-dynamic site content that changes
frequently. It’s also particularly helpful when your CMS doesn’t support
multilingual content. And unlike other website translation methods, content
text and presentation-template text can be localized together in one place.
(After being identified when changes are made to the source site.) Proxy
technology also leverages your current site functionality. It doesn’t require
your IT team’s on-going support and is fully hosted in a high availability,
secure data center.
What
else do I need to know?
This is one of the most hands-off approaches. It accelerates
time-to-market and enables multilingual site translation or localization with
very minimal design, development, or management responsibilities on your part.
And reviewers get in-context views of localized text. But generally, no changes
can be made to localized sites without first making them to the source, or main
site. (Local sites are mirrored versions, so little to no customization is
possible.) To ensure multisite content integrity, technical processes for
content updates must be closely managed by your LSP. Expect a monthly service
fee from your provider for site hosting.
Manual file transfer
What
is it?
Manual transfer of files for translation—from your CMS database
to your LSP—is often regarded as a traditional approach to website
localization. There are no automated elements associated with this decidedly
low-tech method of working.
How
does it work?
This entails manually transferring XML or HTML files back and
forth between you and your LSP. If your content is stored in a database, then
it would be exported as CSV (comma-separated value,
a common import/export file format for databases and other applications), XML,
or other file format. In rare cases when a CMS has no export functionality,
files can be shared by copying and pasting strings of code into (and out of)
Word or Excel documents.
Manually transferring files to your LSP is the most
labor-intensive and error-prone approach to website translation services. For
this method, you copy and paste files to be translated from your CMS into a
Word or Excel doc and email or ftp them to your LSP. Translated files are sent
back from your LSP the same way—requiring that you cut and paste strings of
code from the documents (for various web pages and target languages) back into
your CMS system for review and publishing.
How
do I know if it’s right for me?
Traditional file transfer may be suitable if your site is based
on a home-grown* CMS that doesn’t support languages other than English—or if
you simply aren’t ready to invest in more automated methods. It also might be
employed if your site is small with relatively static content and infrequent
updates. Or if you’re localizing for just one or two global sites, and
time-to-market isn’t of particular concern.
*“Home-grown”
generally refers to a system that is custom built, uses technology not designed
to manage or store content, or is a heavily modified version of a commonly
marketed CMS.
What
else do I need to know?
Manually copying and pasting strings of code—for every page and
target language—is time- and labor-intensive. And the human factor can result
in a higher rate of errors than other website translation methods. (Use of
headlines and other formatting should be carefully considered to avoid
copy/paste errors with languages other than your own.) However, some freelance
translators, agencies, and internal stakeholders prefer working with Microsoft
Word or Excel copy
decks rather
than directly with XML/HTML files.
Outsourced global website operations
What
is it?
Global website operations is a comprehensive solution that
enables you to completely outsource the management of all your multilingual
global sites. Depending on your unique requirements, this model may include a
range of translation and localization, strategic global marketing, content
creation, publishing, creative services, and more—up to, and including, full
operational responsibility for your brand’s international web presence.
How
does it work?
With this approach, your LSP assumes responsibility for managing
all of your global websites—and digital marketing campaigns, as required—from
content creation through go-live and distribution. How do you benefit? By
reducing or eliminating the need for digital marketing, web development and
publishing, IT, design, and content-creation staff. And, perhaps more
importantly, by being able to shift resources toward business innovation,
planning, and other initiatives.
With this end-to-end approach, your LSP generally handles all processes associated with global website and campaign management. Depending on your LSP’s capabilities, this solution may deliver a full suite of creative, marketing, and localization services—and is generally geared toward medium-to-large-sized international organizations. Perhaps the largest benefit of this translation and localization method is that your company’s marketing, IT, web, and other teams need not be staffed to manage multilingual sites or campaigns.
How do I know if it’s right for me?
This website operations model can be the best fit for medium-sized businesses or larger enterprises whose digital marketing and web development and publishing teams aren’t staffed to effectively produce and maintain multilingual sites or global campaigns. Global website operations may also be an appropriate solution for your business if you:
- have large, content-rich sites and multiple local teams with a range of marketing needs;
- are undergoing website redesign or transitioning to a new CMS or other technologies; or
- are looking for a flexible, deployment-only, web-publishing model.
What else do I need to know?
Global website operations solutions are most often provided by the industry’s larger, more established LSPs. Because only these select organizations can deliver the language, cultural, strategic marketing, and technical expertise required to completely manage your multilingual sites and campaigns—while helping to ensure that you meet your international e-business goals.
Thank you for sharing valuable tips on website localization!
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