Localizing your Website Using the Minimum Necessary Translation Cost

Five Tips for Reducing Translation Costs when Localizing your Website

November 7, 2014

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Globalization has led to a growing number of Japanese companies expanding abroad, and website localization has become an indispensable means powering this expansion. However, large costs are typically involved with localizing a websites that need updating on a daily basis. Here, we will take a closer look at ways to minimize these costs.

1. Finding the Right Translation Company

Selecting the right translation company is extremely important if you need high quality translations but want to keep costs down.

We recommend selecting a cooperative and creative translation company that can think up various ways to save on translation costs, instead of thinking only about efficiency.

2. Limit the Content Being Translated

You don't need to translate all the content from your website. If you plan on selling only certain products in the target country, this will limit the amount of content that requires translation.

Additionally, you should rethink the need for translating parts of the website that won't be used frequently by visitors. As with an administrator's page, you don't have to allocate a translation budget for content not required by users.

3. Reduce the Number of Characters to Translate

Translation costs generally are charged per character. Therefore, you can cut down on costs simply by eliminating unnecessary text. The following methods can be used to reduce the number of characters.

Use simple sentences that eliminate unnecessary text

Make sentences clear and to the point to reduce unnecessary text. This will make content easier to understand and reduce translation charges.

Eliminate different text with similar content

Check to see if different sentences say roughly the same thing. If you find a lot of such instances, it will only lead to higher translation charges that aren't necessary.

4. Make Changes to the Translation Process

Another effective way to reduce translation costs is to allow opportunities to review the translation process on a regular basis. If you work with your translation provider to analyze the translation process, you may be able to identify the reason for increases in translation costs. Additionally, you can also find parts of the translation process that may be unnecessary.

5. Use Translation Memory

Translation memory refers to a translation tool that saves the source text and previous translations as a pair. Once previously translated sentences are registered, then can be reused in other situations where the same text needs to be translated. Even if you can't find exact matches, finding similar text will help to reduce the number of characters that require translating.

Summary

Even if the website you want to translate has a lot of content, this by itself will not necessarily lead to high translation costs. Once you know the tips behind reducing translation costs, you will be able to localize your website using the minimum necessary cost. We encourage you to try out these five tips for yourself.

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