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Foreign-language Website Production/Website Translation
– Four Issues Related to Foreign-language Website Production/The Effective Use of A Translation Agency –
Needs related to global websites are increasing as the importance of globalization is advocated in society. However, there is still no clear definition of the term “global website,” and it is often used in a broad sense to refer to any foreign-language website. What must be avoided at all cost is the production of a global website that has an objective which differs from the original intent due to a difference in the definition of the term.
If we were to break the objectives of foreign-language websites into categories on the basis of Arc Communications’ experience in their production, they can be said to be made in response to the following four needs.
1. We want a foreign-language version of our existing Japanese website
“We cannot imagine not having a website in English, the global language…”
The objective is to tell non-Japanese speakers about the company and the business it currently carries out in Japan.2. We want to do something about the websites created by various branch offices located around the world
“We have a website created by the China office for the Chinese market and a website created by the US office for the US market; can we, as the head office, leave them as they are or should we do something about it?”
The primary concern is how governance as the head office should be executed.3. We want to carry out overseas sales from Japan through a website
“We can do sales overseas from Japan in this age of the Internet, right?”
The objective is to enable global transactions from Japan, whether it is by creating an e-commerce site or through a promotional site for triggering trade inquiries.4. We want to have a website that people around the world access first
“We have different organizations that are communicating a variety of messages, and this prevents users from receiving the correct message.”
The objective is to execute globally consistent branding and serve as a “traffic controller” to enable users to find their way to the information they require.Solutions become apparent once concerns are clarified.
When creating a foreign-language website, it is helpful to use the content of the website you already have in Japanese as reference. However, there will be a need to give some thought as to whether it is enough to simply translate the content geared for the Japanese people/market into another language. There are often cases in which the text is inappropriate when translated as is for the Chinese people/market, but this can easily be corrected by taking the step to edit the text before translation to make the message you want to convey appropriate. There are also issues particular to website translation, which includes the translation of information – such as “description” and “alt” tags – that is not directly visible to users and wording that takes search engine optimization (SEO) into consideration. One needs to be somewhat mindful, too, when outsourcing translation. (For your information, Arc Communication has a past record of translation in 30 languages.)
As you can see, Arc Communications, which handles a large number of translations and website multilingualization, has a wealth of know-how that it has accumulated over the years. On February 23, we gave a talk at a seminar hosted by Six Apart, Ltd. (a company that develops and markets the Movable Type blog software) on the themes, “The Points to Directing Multilingual Website Construction” and “The Effective Utilization of a Translation Agency.”
Related materials (in Japanese only) can be downloaded here. Please feel free to use it as a reference.
https://www.arc-c.jp/seminar/form.htmlIf you have issues or concerns regarding the construction of a foreign-language website, please feel free to consult us.
Please make any inquiries you may have here. -
Back Numbers
- Foreign-language Website Production/Website Translation (Spring Greeting 2011)
- Global/Multilingual Website Solutions (Winter Greeting 2010)
- Market Development through Global Websites (Summer Greeting 2010)
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