The Importance of Professional Translation for Your International Site

When creating an international version of your website, it may be tempting to click on Google Translate.  While the tool is free and fairly accurate for the basics, it isn’t for professional use.  Let's look at it this way: If someone offered to take on your project for free without any research or a meeting beforehand, and they sent you their completed work within a minute, would you be expecting the best quality? The only way to ensure your site has professionally-written content is to hire an expert.  If you are dealing with an international site, that means working with a qualified translation service.  When your business is highly-technical and/or specialized, as many industrial companies are, this becomes even more important.  The worst thing that could happen is getting potential customers lost in translation. To illustrate the strengths and weaknesses of Google Translate, I took some content from the Trans-Matic website, translating it into Korean and then back into English.  Here are the results: Original Content: [caption id="attachment_2487" align="aligncenter" width="697"] Content from Trans-Matic's website.[/caption] English-to-Korean-to-English Translation:

Stainless steel stamping characteristics

Some high- wear, exposure to the elements , heat, and when it calls for a specific corrosion stainless steel deep drawn stamping typically are selected for . Stainless steel stamping is strong and durable.

Stainless steel deep drawn stamping, typically components, oxygen sensors , exhaust parts, decorative parts , such as lug nut covers , many , more brakes, fuel delivery components are used in the automotive industry .

Stamped stainless steel has the following desirable properties :

• • Stainless steel with high strength to weight ratio is very strong
  • Stainless steel is resistant to corrosion
  • Generally thought to be non-magnetic stainless steel , but sexually magnetic (electric benefits ) has
  • Stainless steel can be heat treated
  • Stainless steel is a very good wear resistance
  • You do not need stainless steel plating
  • Stainless steel for decorative purposes in a number of ways you can hone

While the general meaning of the original text is present, there are some definite misunderstandings between the two languages - something  a computer simply couldn't catch.  This results in content that appears sloppy and awkward.  Additionally, Google Translate does not keep formatting intact, as you can see with the extra spaces added before punctuation and the missing capitalization in the header (I re-added the bulleted list simply to make this post easier to read).  A professional translator can pick up on context and natural language patterns, as well as keep the formatting looking great. If you are looking to add an international domain or subdomain, proper translation is key.  Ecreative is your experienced partner in industrial web development and international SEO - contact us today to get the conversation started.