The Hidden Costs of Multilingual Websites
Managing multilingual websites is inherently complex and the cost dynamics are vastly different from managing translations in an offline environment - it is not unusual for the annual ongoing cost of translating a website to be the same as the initial translation job. Automation, efficient translation frameworks and usage of CAT (computer assisted translation) tools are all vital in ensuring you can manage your web translation needs within an achievable budget.
The extract below is from a recent presentation we gave at Internet World London.
Why is running multilingual sites important.
There are a lot of stats around the changing demographics of the Internet user community, the rapid uptake of broadband in emerging countries, the rise of China etc but the facts are much simpler than that. The reality for most western countries is that the future of export driven growth (and for many the ability to reduce their debt footprint - an important issue in Greece and the wider EU right now) is directly linked to selling into the BRIC economies. This represents a massive change in the relationship dynamics at a company, regional and national level. Trade balances will need to shift almost 180 degrees and for most companies that means they become the seller rather than the buyer. The relevance to managing multilingual websites is best summed up by this commentary:
“If im selling to you I’ll speak your language. If i’m buying die mussen Sie Deutsch Sprechen”
Willy Brandt
Going Multilingual on your Website
So if you concur that organisations looking for external growth will not have a choice but to look at the emerging economies then for most using the website as the primary market entry point will be default. That means running the website and associated content across languages will be a necessity. We use the term necessity primarily becuse in the BRIC countries (and other emerging markets) the language dynamic is fundamentally diffeent from Western economies. The chart below shows the penetration of English as a second language in some selected countries.
The point - if you want to sell into the growth markets over the next 10 years (at least) localizing is a necessity not a choice.
The True Costs of Multilinaguage Content
There are 2 main types of translation jobs created on a website.
Firstly the large one-off type projects that occur when a new language is added to a site or a large amount of new content is created and needs to be translated into other language formats. These types of translations are not overly complex to manage as it generally involves bulk content being shipped out of one system, translated and shipped back in.
However, once content is translated the reality is that content doesn’t sit still. A website gets added to, content gets updated and content gets deleted - if you do not have a process for tracking and managing these content flows across the language versions of a site then your localization strategy will be flawed or an extremely time intensive and costly exercise.
The Numbers
Lets take a standard website (most sites for mid tier companies seem to sit between 500 to 1000 pages of content). In this instance we are looking at running the website across 5 languages and most of the content is replicated across the different language versions of the site
Number of Pages - 600
Site Function - Primary communication platform for the organisation across partners, prospects and customers.
Languages Supported - English, French, Chinese and German
Editors - Majority head office, but some regional based
Translation Framework - Internally Managed but using external translatoirs
Some key things to consider from the table below.
- Annual ongoing translations will be near 50% of the initial translation costs
- The human cost of having to manage the ongoing translation projects if the technology platform doesn’t properly support multilingual content will be close to a 30% of one persons total time per week.
- Each additional language offers no efficiencies in process unless the technology manages the multilanguage properly
| Pages | 600 |
| Est Number of Words | 210,000 |
| Languages Supported | 4 |
| Total Initial Translation Volume | 840,000 |
| Est Average Annual Content Growth Rate | 25% |
| Est Average Existing Content Rework | 30% |
| Est Annual Additional Translation Volume | 460,000 |
| Avg Tramslation Cost | $0.08/word |
| Internal PM Time Allocation | 8 hrs (per week) |
| External PM Time Allocation | 2 hrs (per week) |
The Cost Implications
The Initial Translations
The initial translation costs and executing the translation workflow is relatively simple to manage and budget for. Content is usually sent to a translation agency (as word or excel) and resupplied back by the translation agency.
| Initial Direct Translation Cost | $67,200 |
| Initial External PM Cost | $5,000 |
| Initial Internal PM Cost | $2,000 |
| Total Direct Translation Cost | $74,200 |
The Ongoing Translations
Much harder to manage. In practise every time content on the website is changed in (at least) the operational language of the site it needs to be translated and publsihed in the other supported languages. Most Web CMS platforms do not easily allow for the management of content cross language so there is a time burden on internal staff to manage the translations.
| Annual Ongoing Translation Costs | $36,800 |
| Annual Ongoing External PM Costs | $12,500 |
| Annual Ongoing Internal PM Costs | $10,500 |
| Total Annual Ongoing Costs | $59,800 |
Avoiding the Scenarios Above.
To round out this post a few tips on what we focused on in developing the translation tools inside Shado to effectively reduce the above cost frameworks by 60% to 70%.
- Use computer assisted translation (CAT) tools for pre-translation of content with a human post edit component to minimise the number of words a human translator needs to work with and increase the volume of words per hour they can manage
- Building translation memory is an extension of capturing your human translation investment
- Optimise the translator workbench to improve efficiency ratios. The more words per hour a translator can do the lower the per word cost
- We offer a per hour post edit pricing model so you get the upside as CAT tools and efficiency improves
- We automate the creation and management of translation projects to remove the need for human shifting of content
- We allow for flexibility in translation workflows so you can map your quality expectations to the inherent value you place on that content
- We bring the translator to the content. WHy go through the process and cost of shipping you rcontent out to a translator. As a web based solution we can bring the translator to the content to do the translation quickly and effectively
If you want a full copy of the presentation or more information just email me david@strakersoftware.com
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