Translation Tools

If you have been reading my posts here or my articles over at Get International Clients, you know that I find the online translation tools great… For International Market Research.

Although I have not used them for translating content, I read that this is a growing trend in large companies that have too much volume to feasibly translate. But these companies make careful choices in what they translate with these tools.

Online translation tools have improved dramatically. Their use will continue to grow. And I’m really open to this. Even professional translators use software tools to help speed up their process. But they are only part of the process. These translators have the knowledge and skill to accurately proof these translations, and know when to use them.

There is one rule to follow:

• Never use online translation to tools alone to translate any sales or marketing copy.

Good sales copy can only be written by a human being. And if you have the right human being writing your sales copy you will get international clients.

Download this free cross-cultural communication tool on Get International Clients – Translation Widget

Here are a few more Translation Tools articles:
- Translation Friendly International English
- Translation Software – It Is Time To Question Old Truths
- Over The Counter Translation Perfection Not Here Yet
- Translate Server Error
- How To Use Online Translation Tools
- Translation Widgets – A Small Step Towards Website Globalization
- Online Translations Tools Write Bad Sales Copy

And read even more in the…
Get International Clients International Sales Road Map

Guide To Use Free Translation Software Tools • International market research is easier and faster with free translation software Read more in this Get International Clients Business Guide

Culture Customized Content Guide • What is the secret to effective international business development? Read more in this Get International Clients Business Guide

International Web Marketing Mix

Internet marketing has become fairly sophisticated with regards to Search Engine Optimization. The search engines have become so sophisticated and change so rapidly that internet businesses are deciding not to invest heavily in SEO.

Internet businesses are coming back to marketing to people, their internet readers. Good internet marketing has more to do today with creating meaningful relationships with readers than ever before.

Are you marketing to the right cultural target?

Internet businesses market to their cultural audiences. The dilemma is that you cannot really contain your website to one location. If your website is in English for example, your readers will come from all sorts of countries.

Multicultural marketing takes into account the wide cultural audience your product has.

A small business wanting to get more international clients might opt for a website in English written specifically for a wide multicultural readership.

This will be always be at least slightly different than a website specifically targeting an all American audience, or an all British audience, or an all Australian audience.

Some businesses have developed a very culturally specific brand. These culturally targeted brands would probably lose their competitive advantage if they adapted their website for a multicultural audience.

But what about all of the other businesses out there? Internet marketing is a great tool for international business expansion.

An initial international expansion phase of combining internet marketing and multicultural marketing would give small businesses feedback on their international business development potential.

The interesting thing about internet marketing is, your real international market potential can surprise you. You can uncover market segments and cultural markets you had not thought of.

Here are a few more International Web Marketing Mix articles:
- Web Marketing For International Sales
- What Set Of Marketing Methods Do You Need For International Success
- How To Give Turbo Power To Your Multicultural Internet Marketing To Actually Get International Clients
- Choice Of Internet Marketing Methods
- Using Foreign Language E-Communication Tools

International Business Development

Do you automatically assume your business will follow the flow if your local economy was going through a recession? Do you lack ideas on how to keep your company sludging through rough times?

How would you like to be able to free your company up out of any sticky recession your local economy might be in?

Let’s take a closer look at how your marketing team functions during recessions. Your marketing team is your lead generation tool, right? How can a seasoned marketer help you during recession?

Cross-Cultural Communication Challenges

I have two teenage kids I’m trying to bring up to be ready for the working world.

They are French. I’m not. Or at least I’m only partly so. And I have the part with North American service expectations.

Culture shock.

I won’t talk to you about my service experiences when I take them to McDonalds in France. I want to talk to you about something I was not really expecting.

This is a topic I’m often confronted with. I’m North American. I have always worked up to North American levels of quality of service. Even if I’ve lived in Europe all of my professional life.

But I’ve live in France for 20 years or so: Culture shock.

I chose my bank because they were the most expensive. They charge for service. I want a decent level of service. Nothing fancy. Just the normal stuff. But I want it to run smoothly at all times. I don’t like having to run to the bank every time someone somewhere sneezes or changes jobs.

I have been with the same bank for over 20 years, two different branches, but the same bank. No problems….until I started my company two months ago.

It first started when the bank staff did not understand the difference in international practices of changing credit card numbers with the companies I had automatic debits set up on my credit card. I live 40 kilometers south of Paris. My local bank assumed all companies everywhere would operate just like in France. I was told to bugger off and left with a mess to sort out by myself right over Christmas.

The bank took my money for my business bank account at the end of January and said they had set up my business account. But I couldn’t do anything with my account until I had the means to do it: check book and credit card. Those arrived at the very end of February – over 4 weeks later. So they were late. You would expect the card to work, right? Wrong. I could not get the card to work even though my bank’s computer system said it should work.

There begins all the fun with the differences in what I expect in a service I’m paying for and what my bank staff feels is giving their maximum service.

Our definitions of service and our service expectations are very different.

• I expected my bank to help me. I needed my bank card to work to do any online business.
• My bank thought they had done everything they could because their computer system told them everything was fine. They gave me a card. They upheld their part of the service.

It took several weeks and several phone calls to every possible contact in my bank.

The result is that according to my bank, there is nothing wrong with the credit card they gave me. They do not know why my credit does not work. But its not their fault. It’s the other guys fault. Their hands are washed.

Not once did I get any form of an apology that my credit card and check book took so long to get to me. And when faced with the problem, the only reaction was to “prove” it’s not their fault.

Not one employee at my French bank would even think to ask: “How can I help you?” and actually follow through. That kind of service is not included in their line of duty.

I’m still left with the problem this card doesn’t work for me. My bank is situated in a major town 40 miles south of Paris. The competition in Paris is greater. I could expect a slightly better level of service in Paris. The temptation to change banks is great. But I’ve been with this bank for over 20 years.

When I changed house a few years ago I did a wide survey of the other local banks. I actually opened bank accounts in three other banks because I wanted a second account in a different bank. But I closed all three accounts because it just wasn’t what I expected from a bank.

Solution: Change branch? Travel into Paris every time something comes up?

My experience was linked to a clash in differences of expectations. I expect a certain service from my bank. For example, I expected my bank to at least be interested in why the credit card they gave me was not working.

But in France they don’t feel it the same way. They offer a certain service. It’s up to me if I want to buy it or not. I can’t question it.

The service I’m expecting as a North American and what they are offering, as a French company, are two different things.

This is easy to see at McDonalds in France if you open your eyes and listen up. McDonalds uses the same system worldwide. It works. But here they employ French staff. In Paris you may or may not notice the difference due to the large number of clients they have to serve and the number of foreign students doing the job. But 40 miles south of Paris, a North American, who understands French, picks up the cultural difference in attitudes towards service.

Service is just different in different cultures.

Don’t miss this guide on Get International Clients:
- Web Tools For Cultural Communication

Here are some articles on Cross-Cultural Communication Differences:
- Free Courses, Content And Culture Scams
- Different Countries = Different Rules
- Different Eye Tracking For Different Cultures
- Music In Cultural Differences

Read more on Cross-Cultural Communication Challenges here:
- Small Businesses Learn From Intercultural Communication Difficulties To Grow Their International Business

Foreign Search Engine Submissions

Below you will find explicit how-to instructions to submit your website to several foreign search engines.

If you have a country that you would like included in this tutorial, leave a comment requesting your country, language or search engine of preference and it will be included.

But first, you might be interested in reading my previous entry titled: Website Localization – Which Directories are You Relying on?This article goes through the reasons why you should be looking at referencing your website in local search directories. In most countries Google, Yahoo and MSN are also the leading search directories. But some countries have other local search directories you should know about if you are targeting those countries.This is where you will learn how to get your website registered with other foreign search engines. Only this aspect is covered here.

Submitting your Site to Yandex

Submitting in the Russian sites requires at least one page in Russian. I created a new blog post that is a translation of the Services Page of this site. How do you do this? Go to the Google, English to Russian Translation page, paste in your text and hit enter. Once you create a page in Russian you submit that page to the Yandex Webmaster Tool and enter the captcha code. Use the Google Russian to English translation page to read a message. You may experience several error messages, but don’t give up.

Submitting your Site to Rambler

Rambler does take a bit more effort, but I was able to do this using the online translation tools from Google in less than 10 minutes. You will be able to do it in two minutes. This is a partial snapshot of the Rambler Регистрация (registration) page.

Each line has been translated by Google, enter the appropriate data, again linking to your page in Russian. Keep in mind that no translation tool is perfect, but my translation will get you through the process. Название сайта is your site name. Choose an appropriate name and translate it into Russian. URL головной страницы is your site URL. (an example of translation tools not working, I translated this text from Russian to English and Google told me “URL pages headache”. Pretty sure that is not 100% correct.) Описание translates to description. I included 2 paragraphs, again translated by Google. Контактное лицо is your contact person, probably your name, or your site administrator. E-mail (or E-mail Контактное лицо) is the email address of the person listed as your site contact. Finally, there are 2 buttons at the bottom of the form, I chose the button on the left, and it worked. I have to assume this means submit.

Finally… After you hit that button on the left you should get to a page that shows Ваша страница принята к регистрации и будет рассмотрена в ближайшее время. which means that “your page is accepted for registration and will be reviewed shortly”. Isn’t Russian an easy language to work with?

Don’t miss the business guide on Get International Clients
-Website Internationalization 101

Here are a few more Foreign Search Engine Submissions articles:
- German Search Engine Submissions
- Chinese Search Engine Submissions

Just beginning your international market research?

Are you stuck because you don’t know how to start?

You can get a lot more international market research done if you use free translation tools to help you get through the initial barriers.

The free translation software cannot do everything. You need to follow certain guidelines.

But with a little practice it will become a precious ally in your international market research. Speeding up time and saving your money.

• How can free translation tools help you develop your international business?   • When should you use free translation tools? • How can you get the most out of free translation tools? Find out how to use free translation tools here.

• What is happening in the world of free translation tools?   • How can this progress help you? • What can you expect for the future? Read more on why you should follow future improvements.

• How should you use free translation tools?   • Can free translation tools do everything? • What is the best way to use free translation tools? Use these guidelines to get the more out of them.

Read the whole story

This is part of the Get International Clients Business Guide 3 Design Your International Visibility Be sure to check out the other useful tips to design your international visibility

Other Resources

International Market Research Learn how you can use free online translation tools to help you get past initial language barriers and then start your international market research. This is essential to your international success.

Free Translation Tools If you want an quick and easy way for your international visitors to access your information in their own language without taking them away from your website, download either the free WordPress Plugin or the Translation Widget for all websites.

Key International Resources You can find other useful resources for your international business development.

If you are running WordPress and want the translation plugin seen on the right, take the:
- Translation Plugin
If you would like to have the translation as a widget you can download it from:
- Free Translation Widget

Read more about International Marketing on Get International Clients