Translation Questions

[MJ]

I have a question for folks doing translations, if I do "home page" in multiple languages, what do I do for the "news" area that feeds from my english blog posts?

I'm curious if people just deactivate that on x language, or if leaving the english is acceptable.

[Connie Burstin]

Hi MJ,

Nice to meet you!
Some people deactivate that option or leave it for some European countries
where some people can also read and speak English (i.e. Germany)

Cheers,

Connie Burstin

[superiorword]

In almost every country "some" people can read and speak English

[MJ]

Yea obviously I realize that considering my traffic is only 30% US - I'm wondering if there is any standard for treating that blog content which won't be translated.

[Graham]

I think ideally the best bet would be to write the news in multiple languages too, but if that is too expensive you could always leave the link to the english one or have a link to it that uses google's translation on that page.

[superiorword]

Graham is right. However, I'd never use Google translation even for the news posts, it's better to leave them in English. I have seen very few affiliates like PokerListings and a few others who get their news translated on a regular basis. They have millions of budget for their content, translation and advertising. So there is no real need of getting your news translated until and unless you have got a lot to spend


About the question you asked in PM, I'd suggest you make a separate news section like the example I sent you yesterday. Right now you have it in the bottom of your home page and it will look odd if you get the home page translated and leave the news items in English.


It's always better to begin with translating the pages that get most of the traffic. For example, the home page, room reviews etc. Once you start generating revenue through the language versions, you can think about getting the articles translated and so on. There is no need to get whole site translated at once.

[Planet Mark]

I leave my news blog in English - the next to links to this we add a small English flag.

Serves the dual purpose of being 'honest' (as in not surprising anyone when they click to an English-language page) and giving them the choice to see this content should they wish.

Thanks, Mark

[xYassassinYx]

Hey MJ,

Thats a tricky one.

In my opinion it depends solely on your site. Personally if it was my main site and it was popular and getting lots of hits everyday from user's in various countries(different languages) then I would translate them. Obviously if you offer a site in like 10 different languages then this will be too expensive and probably not worth the costs. If its 3/4 languages i think this would be effective and will get people from all the languages coming back to your site

[MCMaverick]

Just leave it in English, if someone cant read it they'll skip it