Can translation improve visitor interaction

[Abhi]

I was thinking this for some time. English, while is comfortable to a lot of people, there is a much bigger crowd who fail to grasp when we use English as the only language on our website.

Do you offer your CMS in languages other than English ? Is it a good idea ?

 

[phenomlab]

@Abhi with tools like Google translate which can be used also as an extension in the browser, no.

 

[admin]

> @phenomlab which can be used also as an extension in the browser

Is it ? That last I checked it is almost impossible to translate a page in Firefox. But it works very well in Chrome.

 

[phenomlab]

@admin Firefox has it's own translation extension I think.

 

[Abhi]

Tried the Addon store. Firefox's recommended addon has only text translate feature


> To Google Translate by Juan Escobar

> Recommended
>
> Right-click on a section of text and click on Translate icon next to it to translate or listen it to your language.

But there is on addon which offers to translate the whole page and also supports Bing Translate

> Google Translate, ImTranslator, Dictionary, TTS by Smart Link Corporation
>
> COMPLETELY REDESIGNED TRANSLATOR FOR FIREFOX

> ImTranslator translates text, words, webpages between more than 100 languages.

> NEW: Inline Translator, Dictionary, access to Google Translate, Microsoft Translator. Unique on the fly localization.

> Add to Firefox

> Extension Metadata
>
> This is not monitored for security through Mozilla's Recommended Extensions program. Make sure you trust it before installing.

But is not supported by Firefox. I hate to use plugins which has no recommendation on my browser. Feels a bit insecure.

 

[admin]

It is sad that Google no longer supports this officially on Firefox. There are still lakhs if not crores of Firefox users who would like to try this feature.

That brings us back to the topic. Would actually need a translation for your CMS. My personal preference if `Yes`.

 

[Abhi]

> @admin My personal preference if Yes.

Why would you say that ?

 

[phenomlab]

@Abhi probably to attract and retain new readers and members from countries outside of your domicile. Google searches will present results to users in the language they requested, so I suppose it's only fair for visits to expect that same language to be available when they visit.

 

[Abhi]

How many languages can we offer in a CMS ? Phones offer a lot. But I haven't seen forum offer many. Facebook somehow detected my local language and is now showing it in that language. I would have preferred English though.

 

[phenomlab]

> @Abhi How many languages can we offer in a CMS ? Phones offer a lot. But I haven't seen forum offer many. Facebook somehow detected my local language and is now showing it in that language. I would have preferred English though.

WordPress sites for example have the ability to include multiple languages by virtue of plugins.

 

[Abhi]

Do you mean translate WordPress text strings ? I have never tried it before. Then there will be an option in the front end to choose the website language where **Menu** will replace by **Speisekarte** if we choose German ?

 

[phenomlab]

@Abhi if you are looking to translate text springs, you can use the loco plugin from WordPress

 

[Abhi]

> @phenomlab ability to include multiple languages by virtue of plugins.

Do you mean content translation ? As a person who has involved in the translation process, I can tell you that translated content are poorly worded in most cases. They fail miserably in certain style of writing. Auto translate has a long way to go. You can first auto-translate the content and get someone to make it useable for you.

 

[Abhi]

https://wordpress.org/plugins/loco-translate/

Looks nice. They won't need my help. WordPress strings are one the heavily translated projects in the world.

 

[admin]

> @Abhi Why would you say that ?

A wide variety of people cannot read / understand English. If you give them an interface in their language, they will be regular and you can win a few good members who are thankful to you.

 

[Abhi]

A lot of feature phone now comes with support for local languages. And such phones are doing well in market. I get the point. A native language UI is a plus.

 

[admin]

That is the whole point of it. I once tried a local language on Windows. The translation was not as good as I expected. I moved back to English in a day or so.

It is not just the translation that will help you, quality of translation also matters.

 

[phenomlab]

@admin this is where Google translate often falls down.

 

[Empre]

I usually just look for the pop up that says “The page is in (insert language), Would You like Google to Translate it for you. I click yes, then read the page

Then expecting google to not do it right and fail