Friday, October 26, 2012

Machine Translations - at your own risk!

Hi friends,
I see websites being translated by machine translation engines all too often. These translations are sloppy, inaccurate and only hurt your brand image. Below is something that was obviously done by machine. This person wishes to build his service in America but has not taken the time to be accurate when talking about MSDS sheets. Something that must be accurate and clear. Read below and if you still use MT - do so at your own risk!

http://mywebdesign.us/sigr/profiles/blog/view/15098/printable-msds-sheets-and-bic-products

Colombia the 2nd largest economy in South America

http://www.benzinga.com/trading-ideas/long-ideas/12/09/2881759/are-investors-ignoring-colombias-good-news

Check out the link to an article about the emerging economy Colombia.
Colombia has now passed Argentina and is the 2nd largest economy in South America after Brazil. Colombia is actively seeking business opportunities to export and import with the U. S. If your company hasn't considered Colombia, contact your US Commercial Service for connections and help with developing your new market in Colombia!

Know you could expand business but not sure how to start? Have your website translated by a professional language service. The cost is low and the ROI is HIGH!

To learn more about professional website translations, contact us at info@allcleartranslations.com


Wednesday, October 10, 2012

Basics of Language Translations for Mobile Apps


Mobile  Translations October 2012

Are you looking to sell your products in other countries? With the growing mobile market in China, India and Korea – Asian markets are easier to access than ever before. Consumers in these markets rely on their smart phones, android devices, iPads and iPhones, tablets to connect them to the internet, few have desktops or laptops for connectivity. Keep up with your global audience using multilingual, bi-lingual content.

How to begin?
Points to consider

·         Know your market.

Are you developing mobile apps and dedicating your marketing resources to this medium?

Who is the end user of your product, your marketing, your message? What carriers and devices are used in these new markets? What is the preferred resolution of these products?

·         Limited visual field. 

The screen for a mobile device like a smart phone, blackberry, android or iPhone has limited viewing space. Tablets and IPad have larger screens and can accommodate more text. Remember your space limitations when developing content, adding pictures and videos sparingly. Share your string limitations with your translations team. A target language like Spanish, German or French for example can be up to 126% larger while Asian characters take less space and Arabic is read left to right. If necessary, abbreviations will be used to shorten the characters in the translated string.

·         Strategy

Determine your international strategy first. Are you developing an Android app and the localization region uses Blackberry, IPhone carriers, tablets and IPads? Do you need to develop in one platform first then move to others? Perhaps you wish to develop multilingual content across platforms? Localization of all platforms is possible and we recommend you determine how you should enter a global market.

·         Start with a glossary and style guide

The All Clear Advantage: We will create these guides for you. These tools will enable a consistent message. The glossary and style guide will be utilized by your developers and translators to create a clear and consistent message across products, regions, and cultures.

·         Images and Icons

Icons ARE NOT UNIVERSAL. With all translations, cultural considerations are very important. Unfortunately, there are no universal images or icons that are bi-directional and cross cultures. Try to use images and icons that are universally understood. Don’t assume an image or icon or symbol has the same meaning across cultures. Be aware of local cultural customs when entering a new market.

§  Example: some hand gestures are considered obscene in many cultures.
   Avoid using hand icons for universal considerations.


Links for helpful web/mobile design:
Contact All Clear Translations to learn how you can reach your audience with translation and make sales happen.
412.489.6649