The title of a study of over 2,400 consumers sums up the appeal of a multilingual website: people simply prefer to buy from websites if they’re in their native language. Over half of the consumers surveyed for the study only shopped at sites in their own language, and among the ones who browsed sites in other languages, only a quarter felt comfortable making buying decisions. It is easy to see then why businesses would opt for multilingual websites: offering their services and products in more than one language is a way to expand their market enormously. (more…)
More businesses than ever before are looking to move away from a strictly English-speaking audience. When companies attempt to move into markets in other countries and continents, it’s essential that they translate their documents into the target languages. Today, we’re taking a closer look at why companies should translate their web content into French.
More than just the language of one specific target market a business wants to reach, French is a what we consider a base language — and a French translation is crucial to your success if you want to reach the widest audience possible.
Even though it is a popular language around the globe, many people don’t quite understand how vital French is to their consumer audience. Let’s take a closer look.
Like most things in life, freelancing as a translator is about more than the joy of being able to wear your pyjamas all day. It’s an opportunity to thrive in your career and life. As a translator, you are providing a foundational part of how business is conducted, ideas are conveyed, and how society is able to connect seamlessly.
In short, your job is important. So are you. If you want to build a business that is able to sustain the ups and downs of the market and the curve balls that life will inevitably throw at you, you are going to need more than a passion for language. You are going to need survival skills! (more…)
Most people who spend time online have come across Evernote with its green elephant logo at this point — it’s a hugely popular service that routinely appears in the top downloads of every app store on the web. But just as often, I hear from people who tell me that “they really ought to figure out Evernote” or wish they understood it better. Which is a real shame because Evernote gets more useful the more time you spend with it — and as a freelance translator, I couldn’t imagine my life without this essential tool.
Here, then, are ten tips on how to make Evernote work better for any translator. Try them and see what I mean when I say that it’s changed my workflow and completely and increased my productivity immensely. (more…)
Crowdsourcing seems like a smart path to building a more sustainable, fair and interwoven business. The crowdsourced encyclopedia Wikipedia seems indispensable at this point, and crowdfunding sites like Kickstarter or Indiegogo have helped launch charitable and not-so-charitable projects ranging from new video games to indestructible hoodies and mobile technology for improved public health in rural Africa. (more…)
Imagine sitting down to enjoy a foreign film, only to discover that just the first half is subtitled. Disappointed, you head off to the supermarket for a bar of chocolate, befuddled to find the assortments labeled only in Mandarin or Cantonese Chinese. You go home empty-handed and hop on your iPad to download a new game, but when it installs, the directions don’t match the game. (more…)
“Can’t read, won’t buy.”