Every business owner who aims for global growth should be able to adress potential customers across the globe in the language they speak. That goes for your website, too. To ensure your international audiences understand your website content and marketing message easily, you may want to consider localizing them. Quality translations supported by a solid search engine optimization plan are, therefore, an absolute need for worldwide market dominance.
Since native speakers often use terms that are perceived differently than they are meant, writing for translation is also likely to be different from original copywriting. If you want to better understand how to translate a website and prevent confusion in communicating with customers, there are a few key approaches you can use. Here are seven translation recommendations on how to improve the quality of your website content for SEO.
Sentences Should Be Kept Short
If you want to write better sentences, try breaking them up into shorter chunks. In the end, you’ll have better translations if your paragraphs are shorter. Keep your phrases to 20 words or less for easier translation and more importantly, better understanding.
The fewer words a statement contains without altering its meaning, the better. Also, make use of sentence fragments to improve the readability of your material.
Removing extraneous fluff from your language may also improve the quality of your translated content and search engine optimization.
Be Sure to Use the Correct Word Order
When translating, word order is usually quite important. Word order is one of the many aspects of a language that need careful attention. The meaning of the statement changes drastically when words are switched around. Therefore, ensure that the material is translated correctly by maintaining the correct word order.
In addition, if you think rearranging the words in a phrase would improve it, you should double-check that so you won’t alter the intended meaning. As a result, you’ll be able to produce accurate translations for use in SEO.
Avoid Being Literal
Try to avoid being too literal when translating a website. This implies that you shouldn’t just translate the text word for word into the target language.
Except when translating technical content, being too literal is never appropriate. In many circumstances, however, a direct translation of text used on websites should be avoided since it would distort the intended meaning. So, make sure the original meaning is preserved in the translation.
Describe an Idea With Just One Word
One way to ensure correct text in the target language is to standardize the terminology used to describe the source material. Using one term in place of another is never recommended since it leads to unnecessary confusion.
Another way to avoid confusion is to use the same phrase consistently throughout the text. Learn how to properly mix the most often used vocabulary with your subject matter expertise before diving in headfirst. Having a common vocabulary is crucial to producing high-quality translations.
Utilize an Active Tone of Voice
It’s not appropriate to translate every single word. So, using basic grammatical structures will aid in readability. For a better quality translation, use the active voice instead of the passive. Be cautious not to overuse passive voice, since this might weaken the impact of your writing.
The words will make more sense if translated in a way that the subject does the action rather than receiving the action.
Avoid Phrasal Verbs
A common problem when translating is the use of phrasal verbs, which may throw off the meaning of the original text. The text as a whole is of low quality because of the use of these terms, which have more than one possible interpretation.
In general, while translating, try to avoid using more than two or three phrasal verbs. When writing, avoid using phrasal verbs in favor of simpler alternatives wherever feasible. This can help guarantee the highest quality translation of the source material.
Use Simple English
When we talk of simple English, we mean without idioms, puns, and other humorous flourishes. Using plain English is a translation hack that may help your material resonate with a wider audience.
It will be much easier for the translator to grasp your message if you use terms with exact meanings. Humorous writing styles, although entertaining in their own right, are seldom a good choice for translating text. If you want your text to sound properly, clarity is considerably more important than humor.
Final Thoughts
If you want to expand internationally, you’ll need to provide proper translations, which will help you preserve your distinctive voice as a brand. Making the most of these translation suggestions is essential for ensuring that writing for translation is no longer a problem. Keep in mind that to optimize a website, you need to have high-quality content as well as translations for diverse audiences across the globe.
