Today with the proliferation of multiple languages and communities on the internet, it has become increasingly important to employ translation services. Businesses and writers who are looking to increase their viewership and outreach should start by translating their content to connect with a greater number of people.
There are several important parameters that go into a successful translation. Quality and source of information, the format, nature of content, and cultural references are all factors that need to be considered. To better understand content preparation and analysis for translation, take a look at the following key points.
1) Know your audience–
Obviously you need to recognize the language of the audience that you are targeting. But truly recognizing your audience goes one step further. Different linguistic communities have varying cultural beliefs and faiths. Caution must be used while designing the content so as to not offend any sentiments. To add to this, identifying the nature of your audience – for example, your audience can be kids, elderly, firefighters, project managers or doctors, and that is important. This is because the tone and language that is generated after translation must be relevant to the audience.
2) Set publishing standards–
The way your translated project will be marketed or distributed matters. While there are popular social media platforms where people of all languages come together, such online spaces are usually divided into linguistic pockets. Your publisher or LSP (language service provider) must be aware about the community’s online activity and channel the translated work accordingly. Additionally, the content needs to have the relevant SEO and content localization in order to maximize viewership.
3) Make a glossary of terms and style guide-
There are unique terms and culture specific references in every language. There are also a number of languages that do not have a word for what you are trying to express in English. Hence, it makes sense to include a glossary of unconventional and specific terms at the end of your document. This will not only help the readers understand unfamiliar words, but also allow publishers to market effectively. Having a style guide for every linguistic culture can be a huge benefit. Every culture has its own style of expression and diction. Maintaining a style guide that has certain guidelines specific to every language can streamline the process of content design
and planning for translation.
4) Maintain simplicity in language and format-
This is probably the most important factor that determines a successful translation. Different languages have different grammar and text formats. A lot of the Asian languages are written top to bottom, whereas Persian, Urdu and other Middle-Eastern dialects are written right to left. During translation it is a common occurrence for the entire text to get skewed or jumbled due to change in format and sentence structure. Repairing each and every phrase and re-
structuring is a tedious and time-consuming process. Keeping the essential structure and
content simple and easy to read is a sure-shot way of avoiding this distortion in
appearance.
5) Proofread and maintain deadlines-
Proofreading is an essential quality checking process that is carried out across the writing and publishing industry. The process takes a greater importance in translated works as errors are often naturally introduced as a part of the translation process. This is even more prominent in today’s world of automated translators. Additionally, language specific proof-readers are required and the document must not only be analyzed for syntax and grammatical errors but for cultural oversights as well. Presence of errors implies a disinterest in the linguistic community, sometimes even disrespect. Maintaining the brand image of your company or blog is dependent on producing error free, culturally compliant content for the specific community.
Meta-Description: Planning to translate your content for international markets? Here’s what you
should know.
