making site Bilingual

[ianccc]

I have an English site that includes a blog-forum-articles and all the bells and whistles, I am being pressured by an advertiser to make my site Bilingual. Does anyone have examples of this, I have hired a French Linguist and he is working on the site translation to include navigation, embedded text and some other items – however there is a new blog article every day – I an trying to figure out to what degree my site should Bilingual and how I should navigate folks to the French site

Any info appreciated

[Viator]

I run a bilingual website. It has operated this way for seven years now.

My approach: except for FAQs, etc., different content - not translation of the same articles, but different articles in each language.

If you use some type of CMS, a good way to do it is: five most recent articles / posts in each language on front page, in two parallel columns. Then the possibility for readers to access the chronological list of posts/articles on a separate page either in one language only, or in both languages.

I feel that having a common welcome page for both languages (what would be index.html or like that), but then the option to bookmark a separate welcome page for one language only if one prefers, is a good option.

Or - if the site is garden.ca, which I see in your signature - why not to have one of your three columns titled "French"? Whar I described above is my approach for one specific website, which was created bilingual from scratch - there are other possible ways of doing it.

But your three current columns seem well-chosen, and I would be hesitant about removing one of them.

But I would try to find a way at least to have a box with some French content on front page (and then a separate page with French only), in order to show from start to French-speaking visitors that they will find French language material as well.

Good luck!

[ianccc]

Thanks for the great response, I have had a translator offer suggestions for the enbedded text and some of the articles. This is a tough situation becaiuse Canada has 2official languages and the Canadian French is different from Parisian French,

I will consider the comments above, I tried the Google API translator so I will update here my progress thanks again

[Viator]

Yes, I am well aware of the issues in bilingual countries - I live in Switzerland, but the bilingual website I am running is international, French-English.

Once again, each website being different, one cannot just apply what has been done with one to other ones. However, I am glad if I can share my experiences and if this can be useful.

Good luck! I am not in gardening, but your website Garden.ca is very nice.

[Gerry]

If you use joomla, this is so easy with some of their available modules. Some of the free ones will translate up to 13 different languages. Many of the paid apps I think go up to 28 languages.

The translation is based on a google api so it is not perfect but it is better than nothing.

I can give examples if you want to PM me.

Otherwise the Link Police will hit me with another gig for advertising my own site.

[Viator]

I don't advise the use of automated translation tools, especially for a website in a bilingual country. People will read the translation once, have great fun, but it is unlikely they will visit again.

[Gerry]

I don't advise the use of automated translation tools,

IF someone wants bilingual (multilingual) then why not give it to them.

The options are:

Don't do it

or

Do it.

Do you have any idea of the rankings such a tool can provide with Google.jp, .es, .fr, .cn etc?

Having this option can suddenly bring traffic that was not there previously. And all someone has to do is click on a flag to the corresponding Language and the entire site and all links become that language.

For me and my audience it is a no brainer.

Or you can pay someone to translate the entire site.

I applaud your bilingual site... but you must admit it is great to have these options.

[Viator]

For me the problem is the quality of the translation. True, it helps to understand the meaning of a text, but unless it is a text built with simple sentences, the translation will sound quite odd and sometimes impossible to understand.

If a website is just a kind of landing page for traffic and ads to be clicked, fine. But when one wants to offer quality content - and this seems to be the case here - it is another matter. I prefer not to have translated texts rather than poor translations.

Dont misunderstand me: nothing against the small flag and automatic translation as an additional option for visitors, it is a nice addition to a website. But when the purpose is to make a website really bilingual or multilingual, the challenge becomes a different one.

[Gerry]

Dont misunderstand me: nothing against the small flag and automatic translation as an additional option for visitors, it is a nice addition to a website. But when the purpose is to make a website really bilingual or multilingual, the challenge becomes a different one.

I agree. The real need for true translations would be for sites giving medical advice or those of a life, sustaining life (diet and exercise related - including recipes) or for precise measurements.

For general information, there is no harm in supplying options.

I recall when I was last in Venice, the hotel manager and staff spoke Italian, German, French, English, Slavik and Russian, and were in the process of studying Japanese. Plus, as they liked to put it, spoke Venetian.

Nothing beats true face to face interaction or, in your case, a site written by a native speaker in a bilingual format.