Should you translate your content to different languages?

Sonali
14 replies
There are a few things to consider when deciding whether or not to translate your content into different languages. One is the audience you're trying to reach - if you're targeting a global market, then translating your content is a good idea. Another is the cost - translating content can be expensive, if you get it done purely manually. Finally, you'll need to consider the quality of the translation - if it's not done well, it could reflect poorly on your brand. In my opinion i do think its better to translate your marketing efforts to different languages otherwise you are missing out on a huge market. Would you trust pure AI translation? Let me know your thoughts on this.

Replies

Andrew C.
its good to do so... but i feel a targeted approach to a language is way better than just throwing a wide net hoping to catch something
Neri Raanani
I wouldn't trust AI translations at this point. I'd still have to review it myself and send it to a professional proofreader. Translating content depends on your audience's geographical location and how relevant and crucial content marketing is to your goals and KPIs (Is it worth the trouble?). I believe English content works well in Europe, the USA, and most of the Middle East.
Sonali
@neri_raanani Yes it does work well, but with translated content it resonates more with the customers, if we talk about Europe and middle east.
Umut Günbak
It depends on your target audience. If you are sure that the majority of your targets can read and understand English content, then I think it is not necessary to translate.
Sonali
@umutgunbak That is true. But should you be satisfied selling to only a specific demographic. In my opinion you should keep on growing and striving for more. For such a growth people should definitely opt to translating their content.
Richard Gao
I think you should first do market research on where most of your customers are coming from before deciding to translate. You're right, the resources spent on translating for every language would be very expensive, which is why it's better to focus on a few languages where customers are coming from. For example, if you see a large amount coming from Latin America, then it might be useful to have a Spanish version of your website. I would not trust AI translation at the moment, if you try to reduce costs with AI translation and ship it out for all languages, the inaccuracies that build up could damage your brand more than just having it in English would. For example, if a non-english speaker uses google translate for your site, whatever offensive or inaccurate things that appear would just be chalked up to translation not be perfect, but if you have an official webpage with a bad translation, then that would do much more harm.
Sonali
@richard_gao2 Definitely! Especially if you are looking to translate websites, real-time pure AI translation option is available but you should not opt for it. But in case of images and videos and even with text, if you have a context aware engine , and can make English simpler and in an easier format, surprisingly the results are astonishing!
Nancy Nishi
AI translation isn't as accurate as one might want it to be. It's still 60-90% accurate.
Jon Zhang
I Think English is prefered then bad translation.
Sonali
@nancy_nishi I completely agree with you, but do you believe there could ever come a time when just pure AI translation will be enough? 🤓
Anna Erst
I wouldn't trust AI-generated translation. It's a good idea who hire someone who knows the language (not necessarily a native speaker) and probably send the text to a native proofreader. That would be more than enough.