How do I go about changing my site to another Language?

[Greig]

Over the past week I've had alot of work through clients all over Europe and it struck me I should perhaps have my website in various languages, French, German and Spanish with a small flag for each country to click to change on the site.

How on earth do I go about this as Im lost.

Thanks
Greig
:? :? :? :? :? :lol:

[uksbc]

google offer a way of doing it.

it works in just they way you describe. i dont have a web address for it but if you have any problems finding it let me know and i will send you the html code for each language and you then simply add them to your site

hope this makes sense

[Greig]

I've been looking for ages so if you wouldnt mind please e-mail it to me.

Thanks Greig

[Alpha]

The obvious way is to talk to multilingual and get him to provide a quote for doing it.

If it is critical for doing business in those countries do not rely on google or other translation software as the results can be a little erratic. :D

[uksbc]

alpha has a good point,

try multilingual and if it you would prefer the coding then let me know

[Talkrussian]

I would second the view not to rely on any form of machine translation provided by Google or any others. Those tools are there to give people an idea of the content and the results can be very funny, but not too good if you're trying to get your business a good image.

The best way to get credible translation is through human translators.


Neil McCafferty

[Urban Space]

Hi

I know multilingual specialises in Eastern European languages so I'd give him a go for those areas. Though I suppose he'd charge for this as he's a professional translator. As for the French side, I'd be more than happy to give the website a look over and see if I can help? I couldn't promise anything but I'd love to try and help you!

If you want to give me a try, PM me! I'd be delighted that you gave me a chance!

Thanks!

[multilingual]

Thanks to everyone who mentioned me in this thread.

:)

I have spoken to Greig and we will go over the options.

JB

[Talkrussian]

The bit you have to watch for here is using an agency to project manage your translation, as opposed to finding the translators yourself.

Using an agency is great, they'll do everything for you. You will, of course, be paying for someone to sit in the middle.

The rate a translator gets paid for this kind of work (assuming it isn't off-shored..another issue!), is around GBP 60-80 per 1,000 words. An agency will mark this up, usually doubling it.

If you want to manage this yourself, then post the job on a site like www.proz.com, where the translators will bid for it direct.

Or the institute of linguists can help too:

http://www.iol.org.uk/linguist/translator1.asp






Neil

[creospace]

I'm not sure if you were referring to the technical element of Multilanguage website or the actual translation. If it's the former then I can help. Living in Latvia I’m used to Multilanguage websites and as a (British expat) web designer I’ve built them.

PM for further details and some prices. Happy to offer advice if that’s all you need.

Regards

Gary

[multilingual]

Hi Neil, :)

Hope you and Yelena are well.

You make some interesting points, but they don’t really give a fair picture.

Using a freelance translator is great if you want a simple document translating, but as Gary will vouch there is far more to multilingual websites than just translating a few words.

The bit you have to watch for here is using an agency to project manage your translation, as opposed to finding the translators yourself. Using an agency is great, they'll do everything for you. You will, of course, be paying for someone to sit in the middle.

An agency will mark this price up, usually doubling it.


I wish that all we had to do was sit in the middle and do nothing :), but there is more to it than that, as I am sure you are aware. Like you say, we can ‘project manage’ for someone, and that means handling DTP, typesetting, HTML insertions, document comparisons, formatting, printing, proofreading, cultural consultations, etc. Plus if a project is worked across four or five languages then it all has to be co-ordinated properly.

We find that most clients value their time and resources. They want their language needs to be handled by one central company. They could search around for individual translators, but unless they know the language they will never know how good they are. It is too much of a risk, and not a economic use of their time.

That's why companies like ours exist, because we screen all translators and use quality control procedures to make sure that only the best, highly qualified native translators are used on clients projects. We have thousands of CVs sent to us each year from so-called ‘translators’, and it is our job to sort through them all to find out which ones can do a good job and which ones are a waste of time. Then, when someone comes to us with a specific project we already have the right people in place. We take away the headaches and we take away the risk.

Putting a ‘translator wanted’ ad on the internet is certainly another option, but it's a bit like putting an ad in the local paper for someone to come and service your Mercedes. Do you want the job doing right or do you just want to find the cheapest quote? What is important? You need to weigh up the options and decide which way to go. It is a question of trust.

You might get lucky and find a good translator, you might not. How are you going to judge if you don’t know the language? It is your image and reputation on the line.

There are plenty of highly qualified translators registered at ITI or IOL, but people need to be aware that it is a list of people who are qualified to be translators, which does not mean that every job they do will be perfect. Again, this is where a company like ours has an advantage because we double check all the work to make sure it is up to standard before it is forwarded to the client.

People want value for money and peace of mind, which means getting the job done right, on time, to an agreed standard and with a full guarantee. Much better than making a mess of it and then paying again to repair the damage.

It's about understanding what constitutes 'good value'.

:)

All the best.

JB

[creospace]

Multi these points I think ring a bell with me toowith web design and I’m sure with other industries. We spoke about W3C compliant coding and was it good value to code and should customers pay more etc etc same old argument I think you get what you pay for.

Re translation I placed an add on a job site here for a translator for some work I did and no word of a lie within 2 minutes I had about 20 emails with prices varying from £1 to £10 per 1800 chrs. They must of been watching it like a hawk!

I translate pigeon English into perfect English here thats about as far as my translation skills go!

Gary

[multilingual]

I placed an add on a job site here for a translator for some work I did and no word of a lie within 2 minutes I had about 20 emails with prices varying from £1 to £10 per 1800 chrs


This is the trouble Gary, without knowing the language how can you judge who is good from bad?

That's what we are here for.

Funnily enough I have just opened a letter from a young lady who wishes to be considered as a Spanish translator. She has put 'O' level Grade B as her qualification!

JB

[Talkrussian]

You get good responses from the translators sites and it's not diffcult to split the wheat from the chaff.

When using agencies, you don't know who ends up with your file, or where. A fair bit of it is off-shored. Typically you pay the agency about £150 per thousand. The translator gets less than $20 of that. Of course, reputable agencies don't do this.

Most of the web localisation we do is sent by site developers as lined text, so we don't have to worry about the HTML. It's fed back in using line numbers and then proof-read to make sure it hasn't gone nuts.

Increasingly larger sites use Content Management Systems, so the new language version is text replacement, the CMS does the rest. If you need things doing in Front Page, Dreamweaver, Go Live or straight HTML, you'll find plenty of linguists out there who can do that too.

Neil