Google Translate. An update...
John Worthington, BA Hons., ACA, CITP/FIBP.
Our IBT Online vision is to make Online Global programs available to all small and mid-cap companies so that they can successfully access global opportunities.
Google's perpetual drive for innovation means more disruption is coming our way. An example is Google’s new translation system that has delivered measurable improvements in the fluency of Google Translate. Google has begun rolling out the service across all its languages, chat boxes, web pages, articles, blogs, emails, social media, message forums…
First updated were the most commonly used primary languages (English, Chinese, Spanish, Japanese, Portuguese, French, Korean and Turkish), as well as Google’s >192 country specific search engines, the Google Translate website and the Website Translator plugin.
Our research shows that Google Translate is now better than ever for personal use, but remains bad for business!
Business use: Don't take it to the office. Google Translate presents risk for business understanding and communication where professional rigour is required. Just take the context of legal contract, technical documentation as well as marketing and sales communications. There is measurable uncertainty and scope for misunderstanding that can quickly have material financial implications
The free Website Translator plugin for businesses, is in fact hugely expensive, as consumers and businesses users take their custom elsewhere. The plugin can be quickly applied regardless of website content (number of pages, technical information…). Locate the Google Translate URL, apply your website information, configure the plugin settings, select the languages and you’re done. It is as easy as that. Also, there is no cost, other than that of setting it up. However the SEO for your website has not improved and the User Experience is poor, difficult to navigate and engage with. So users, not surprisingly, will go elsewhere. Give it a try on a foreign language site that you know and see what you think!
A full version of this article originally appeared on our ibt.onl website.
John is a founding partner at IBT Online at its creation in 2002. John started his professional career in London qualifying as a Chartered Accountant. Today, he is an acknowledged expert in the field of innovating international business development, with global website localization and international online marketing.