Nowadays, online communication has become an unavoidable necessity. Yet language barriers can often limit access to information for a global audience. Fortunately, machine translation technologies have evolved over the years to provide an effective solution to this problem. In this article, we will look at the different methods of machine translation of web pages and their advantages and disadvantages. We will also discuss best practices for ensuring that the translation is of high quality and easily understood by the target audience.
What are the advantages of having a web page available in several languages ?
Here are just a few of the advantages of having a web page available in several languages:
Targeting a wider audience
First, by offering your website in multiple languages, you can reach visitors from different regions and cultures who don’t necessarily speak the language in which your site is originally written.
Improving the user experience
Next, visitors prefer to browse a website in their native language or the one they’re most comfortable with. By offering your site in different languages, you can improve the user experience and make navigation easier for foreign visitors.
Increase brand awareness
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In addition, by offering your site in several languages, you can boost your company’s international visibility and gain brand awareness.
Improving natural search engine optimization (SEO)
By the way, by translating your pages into different languages, you can increase your audience and improve your search engine positioning for queries made in these languages.
Meeting customer needs
Finally, if you sell products or services in several countries, it is essential to offer your website in the local language to meet customers’needs and provide them with an optimal shopping experience.
What tools are available to translate a web page automatically ?
There are several tools available to translate a web page automatically. Here are a few examples:
DeepL
- Description : Machine translation tool developed by a German company.
- Features: translation of complete web pages or selected texts, choice of source and target language, superior translation quality thanks to the use of artificial intelligence.
- Benefits: Higher translation quality than Google Translate, easy to use, free for a certain number of translated characters per month.
- Price: Paid for higher translation volumes.
Microsoft Translator
- Description: automatic translation tool from Microsoft.
- Features: translation of complete web pages or selected texts, choice of source and target language, integration with other Microsoft products such as Office.
- Benefits: Higher translation quality than Google Translate for certain languages, integration with other Microsoft products, free of charge.
- Price: Free.
SDL FreeTranslation
- Description : Machine translation tool developed by SDL.
- Features: translation of complete web pages or selected texts, choice of source and target language, superior translation quality thanks to the use of neural machine translation technology.
- Benefits: Higher translation quality than Google Translate for certain languages, integration with other SDL products, free for a certain number of words translated per month.
- Price: Paid for higher translation volumes.
Translate.com
- Description: online machine translation platform.
- Features: translation of complete web pages or selected texts, choice of source and target language, superior translation quality thanks to the use of artificial intelligence.
- Advantages: Higher translation quality than Google Translate for certain languages, translation of different types of content (texts, videos, files, etc.), ability to order professional translations, free for a certain number of words translated per month.
- Price: Paid for larger translation volumes or professional translations.
How to translate a web page automatically?
To translate a web page automatically, you can use an online machine translation tool such as Google Translate, DeepL or Microsoft Translator. Here are the steps to follow:
- Copy the URL of the web page you wish to translate.
- Access the online machine translation tool of your choice.
- Paste the URL of the web page into the text box provided.
- Select the source language (the original language of the web page) and the target language (the language into which you wish to translate the web page).
- Click on the “Translate” button or on the corresponding icon to launch the translation.
- Patience while the machine translation tool translates the web page.
- Once the translation is complete, check the quality of the translation and correct any translation errors.
- If you’re happy with the translation, you can copy the translated text and paste it into a document or directly into your website.
What are the tips for quality machine translation ?
Here are a few tips for quality machine translation:
Choose a reliable machine translation tool
There are many machine translation tools available online, but not all of them provide the same translation quality. It’s important to choose a reliable and recognized tool to guarantee a quality translation.
Select the appropriate source and target languages
Make sure you select the correct source and target language to avoid translation errors. Machine translation tools may also offer automatic website translation options, allowing you to translate your entire website.
Simplify content
Machine translations are often less accurate for complex or technical texts. If possible, simplify the content to be translated by using short sentences and simple vocabulary.
Check translation quality
It is recommended that you check the quality of the machine translation by proofreading and correcting any errors. Some translation errors can be corrected automatically by the machine translation tool, but it is important to check the translation manually to ensure optimum quality.
Use automatic proofreading tools
Automatic proofreading tools such as Grammarly or LanguageTool can help you detect grammatical and spelling errors in machine translation.
Use a professional translator
If the quality of the machine translation isn’t good enough, it is recommended that you call in a professional translator to improve the quality of the translation. Professional translators can provide top-quality translations using computer-aided translation techniques or enhanced machine translation tools. If you’re looking for a qualified translator, you can go to BeFreelancr, the freelance platform.
Train your own machine translation template
If you have a lot of content to translate into a specific language, you can train your own machine translation model using machine learning tools such as Google Cloud AutoML or Amazon Translate. By training your own machine translation model, you can improve translation quality based on your specific content.
