Creating more accessible associations with multi-language solutions.
For many associations, having a multi-language digital strategy should be more than a nice-to-have but a necessity that can help directly impact your core objectives. By creating key site pages and interactions in members’ native languages, you can foster inclusive community building, strengthen your advocacy efforts within your industry, and expand your members’ access to professional development opportunities. You’ll be driving organizational growth and long-term sustainability by being able to tap into your underserved demographics. Multilingual translation shows an association’s commitment to inclusivity, and its investment in the future.
In this article, we’ll explore the benefits and key considerations to creating a multilingual digital presence for your organization, as well as some best practices for implementation, what the right translation option might look like for you, as well as two of our favourite translation tools to work with.
The benefits of a multi-language digital experience.
A multi-language digital experience offers associations significant advantages, extending far beyond simply translations into different languages. By reaching new demographics and geographic regions, associations can achieve substantial membership growth. This approach also enhances member engagement by catering to diverse needs, ensuring comprehension for non-English speakers and fostering a stronger sense of belonging. Improved communication and understanding naturally follow, as language barriers are broken down.
As well, using targeted SEO across multiple languages helps increase your online visibility. Having resources and support in members’ preferred languages strengthens your member services, while respecting diverse backgrounds through cultural sensitivity. It also helps and encourages increased participation in events and initiatives if people are feeling connected and comfortable in those spaces. And finally, in many jurisdictions, associations are legally required to comply with data privacy and accessibility regulations. For many of Canada’s national associations, having your website fully translated into French is a legal obligation that can’t be ignored.
Key considerations you may not be thinking about, yet.
When embarking on multilingual translations, associations need to make sure they prioritize accuracy and consistency because if you’re going to do it, you might as well do it right. Start with efficient content management within your CMS should be a top priority to make sure you’re using your time and resources right, as well as collaborating with the right people to make it happen.
From there, strategic planning steps in – you’ll want to identify your target audiences and prioritize languages first based on demographics and growth. Then you can prioritize core content on your site, membership materials, and event information.
The final thing before actually translating is to think about design and user experience. Make sure you’re going to account for language-specific nuances like right-to-left scripts and character length variations between languages when building or copying content and pages.
Once you start translating, you want to ensure precise terminology and maintain your brand voice across languages, even when direct translation isn’t possible. Adapt your content with a culturally sensitive lens. This can involve adapting messaging, tone, and even imagery to resonate with diverse audiences, and avoiding potential misunderstandings in your use of colours or visuals too. Legally, you also want to make sure you’re accurately conveying policies and standards in order to prevent legal issues.
Finally, make sure you’ve done your due diligence when it comes to a realistic budget and resource abilities, considering the costs of translation, website development, and ongoing maintenance. A strategic approach to translation is crucial, potentially involving phased rollouts or prioritizing your most high-impact content to get the most out of your efforts.
CIP’s entire site is available in both English and French to be able to serve their members across the country.
Effective multilingual website best practices.
The UX side
To create a positive multilingual user experience, prioritize clear language selection with visible, accessible switchers, and use language names or flags carefully. If you can, invest in high-quality, culturally adapted translations to ensure consistent terminology and context. UI and navigation should stay intuitive across all languages, with translated elements and functional search. Thorough testing by native speakers and ongoing maintenance are crucial for accuracy and relevance, while user feedback can give you valuable insights for continuous improvement.
The SEO side
When it comes to SEO, there are a few things you can do to ensure that your content is being found by the relevant people searching for it and that no links are broken while they browse. You also want to ensure everything’s seamless when they’re switching between languages on your site and your content is optimized for page speed and mobile-friendliness across all language versions. By following SEO multilingual best practices, you can ensure that all your members are getting the best and most seamless user experience they can while visiting your site and interacting with you.
Three ways to translate your content.
When it comes to translating your website, there are three paths to choose from: machine translation, human translation, and hybrid solutions. Understanding the nuances of each method is needed to choose the optimal strategy for you to connect with your target audience.
Machine-driven
Machine translation offers undeniable advantages in speed, cost-effectiveness, and scalability, making it a practical choice for quickly processing large volumes of content or handling time-sensitive updates. But its limitations in accuracy, quality, and capturing nuanced language mean it’s generally not good for polished, professional content or culturally sensitive material. While it’s quick and easy, it can also mean potential disruptions. Make sure you consider your content’s purpose and audience when deciding whether to use machine translation.
Human-led
Opting for human translation gets you superior accuracy, quality, and cultural sensitivity, as expert linguists are better at handling complex language and nuanced context, giving you polished and engaging content. But it comes at a higher cost and requires more time budgeted, especially for large-scale projects. It can also be a challenge to find qualified translators depending on what language you’re looking for.
The best of both worlds?
A hybrid strategy combines the speed and cost-effectiveness of machine translation with the accuracy and expertise of the human touch. Typically, machine translation generates a first draft that gets polished by human translators for accuracy and cultural relevance. While this approach can boost efficiency and cut costs compared to strictly human translation, it still demands more resources than fully automated methods. Effective content and strategy management and skilled human editors are crucial to avoid inconsistencies and ensure quality, especially if you’re getting poor initial machine output. If you have highly nuanced content, you might also bog down your process, potentially cancelling out your intended time and cost savings.
No matter which translation option you choose, make sure it works with your timeline, budget, and resources. Better to take a slower, phased rollout approach if you don’t have a large budget and access to staff than trying to rush things and risk alienating or insulting your members.
COTO has a variety of resources available for Ontario’s occupational therapists in both English and French, manually created by expert translators to ensure accuracy, context, and quality.
Top-notch multi-language tools for your website.
When it comes to translations for association websites, these are the two forerunners we trust to get the job done for our clients.
WPML
WPML is a powerful WordPress plugin that simplifies creating multilingual websites, boasting comprehensive features and seamless WooCommerce integration. While it requires an upfront investment, its user-friendly interface and modular design make it accessible for many. However, consider that its extensive feature set might present a learning curve for some, and you may want to factor in the need for ongoing maintenance. It’s advisable to clarify pricing, especially renewal costs, to ensure informed decision-making.
Pros
Ease of use: The setup wizard and user-friendly interface make it easy to install and navigate, even for those new to website translation
Modular design: Use only the components you need, which can help improve website performance
Regular updates & security: Actively updated to fix bugs and improve functionality, adding an extra layer of reliability and security
Weglot
Weglot streamlines website translation through its user-friendly interface and rapid, automatic translation powered by DeepL, offering features like multilingual SEO and a visual editor. While it excels in quick setup and content updates, it’s worth noting that the initial machine translations typically require human review for optimal quality, especially for nuanced content. As a subscription service, costs scale with content volume, and you’ll have less granular control over the translation process compared to other solutions. Also, while integration is generally smooth, thorough testing is advisable, particularly with highly customized websites. Consider the potential for vendor lock-in when exporting translations, and recognize that contextual accuracy can still be a factor, given the reliance on a single machine translation engine.
Pros
User-friendly interface: Relatively easy to install and configure, even for non-technical users. It integrates smoothly with many website platforms.
Fast Setup: You can typically get your website translated and displayed in multiple languages very quickly after integrating Weglot.
Multilingual SEO: Weglot automatically creates language-specific URLs (e.g., yourwebsite.com/es for Spanish), which is crucial for search engine optimization in different languages. It also handles hreflang tags correctly.
WordPress (a future consideration)
While it’s not here yet, WordPress has talked about adding their own functionality for multi-language offerings. We don’t know much about it yet – what languages they want to offer or what the functionality will be for backend users – but can’t wait to see what they come up with. It would be incredibly useful to have something built in and easy to use, especially for smaller organizations that may not have a full budget for larger translation projects.
Minimize stress and ensure great success.
There are a few steps to make sure your implementation goes smoothly. We’ve outlined them here to help you on your journey.
- Conduct a Needs Assessment: Determine your target audience, content priorities, and budget.
- Choose a Translation Method: Select the best approach based on your needs and resources between machine, human, and hybrid.
- Select a Website Platform & CMS: Ensure your website and current software has compatibility with multi-language functionality.
- Develop a Translation Workflow: Establish a clear process for translating and managing your content.
- Implement Your Solution: Integrate the translation tools and update your website.
- Test and Review: Thoroughly test the multi-language version of your website to ensure accuracy and functionality.
- Promote Your Multi-Language Offering: Let your current and potential future members know about your site’s new available language options.
Create a deeper connection with your members.
Building a multi-language digital experience isn’t just about translating words. By offering content in your audience’s native languages, you’ll be enhancing the connections and engagement you have with your members. By embracing this inclusivity, you’ll also be expanding your reach to find future ones. If you’re still not quite sure what the solution you need is, our experienced team of experts are here to help you figure out what will work best for your organizational and audience’s needs.
