What's New in Website Translation?

A Recap of Easyling’s Tool Demo at ATC

Balázs Benedek, CTO and Co-founder of Easyling held a tool demo about the features and differences of Easyling’s new JavaScript-based website translation technology and its Translation Proxy solution. As the first step, all currently available website translation methods were reviewed, then Easyling’s solutions were discussed in more detail.

The Translation Proxy is a fully automated technology for website translation. A huge advantage is that it removes the IT issues of the website translation process, letting clients save on IT- and project management costs (time , manpower, know-how, overhead). However, like any technology, it is not a one-size-fits-all solution. It is not a viable option in cases where 3rd party involvement is not allowed due to data security/privacy reasons (health records, credit card info, etc.), or where the proxy’s ongoing monthly fee is an issue. In such cases, JavaScript-based translation can be the answer.

JavaScript-based website translation is a client side technology, and for this reason, it is a very good option whenever processing sensitive data excludes the involvement of a 3rd party provider. It can be ideal for web applications (e.g., account-related data or credit card submission interfaces). However, website content translated by JavaScript-based technology is not SEO-friendly. It does not have its own domain/subdomain, therefore it is not crawled by search engines - but in cases where drawing new visitors to the site is not an issue, it may very well be the optimal solution. A typical example where SEO-friendliness does not matter is the case of Intranet sites.

During the questions & answers part, participants described specific issues they have experienced:

  * _Website owners have a difficult time collecting the content in files, but they would like to know the word count for the project right away._

For this situation, the site discovery / word count function of the Translation Proxy can be a good solution. Website content can be filtered as needed and then crawled/counted automatically.

  * _Website translation clients insist that the translation files should sit on their own servers._

This is mostly due to the lack of understanding of the Translation Proxy technology. The translated content does not become the propriety of the Translation Proxy provider, the original site is not duplicated in the foreign language version. There is only one instance of the website, the original one. All other language versions are created on the fly, by replacing the source language content with the translation which is pulled from a cloud-based translation memory.

  * _Some clients worry about the ongoing costs of the Translation Proxy._

To address this concern, Easyling offers the self-hosted version of its JavaScript-based solution, without a monthly fee. (As explained above, there is no SEO with this option.) If SEO-friendliness is required, a hybrid solution can be used: the Proxy-based translation will be displayed for the crawlers, while the users will see the JavaScript-based one.

  * _Very often, clients have unrealistic expectations: SEO, files residing on their own server, no ongoing costs, and no IT costs._

LSPs have a special role in educating the clients on the costs and benefits of the various methods. Understanding the capabilities and differences of the available approaches is crucial for identifying the right solution(s) and have a satisfied client.

Easyling Tool Demo Presentation at ATC London 2016 (PDF)