At the moment there are approximately 54 million of Spanish-speakers in the United States, holding a lot of purchasing power. The US Hispanic population is growing and it has become more important for companies to translate their websites into Spanish.
At first sight, it seems like a simple task, but it suddenly becomes obvious that there are many ways to translate content, you can use a software or hire someone to do it for you.
In this post we want to give you a short description of each method for you to consider when you are facing the decision of how to communicate with your Hispanic audience.
Machine translation
Automatic translators, such as Google Translate are becoming more popular as they have been improving its accuracy. How does Google work?
Google uses a statistical machine translation which uses an evolutionary method of translation by drawing on a large database of existing accurate translations. There are lots of companies using this because they do not have a big Spanish audience and maybe it is not worth to invest in a professional translation.
Indeed, implementing Google translation system is easy and simple. It only requires few lines of code to your site and you will have a multilingual version of it.
Straight translation
There are lots of words to say “house” in Spanish but there is only one way to say it properly, do you know which one is it?
It depends on the country we are, Argentineans do not have the same way of communicating than Spanish or Mexicans. This is why a translation expert or a native agency is necessary to provide accurate translations that will be relevant to Spanish readers. The best option is using language that every Spanish-speaker around the world would understand.
Hiring a professional is more expensive and it requires a lot of time. You can find firms and freelancers who can translate your entire website and if you require special translations for a specific industry you can find translators with accreditation to do it.
Transcultural Adaptation
What happens with companies that want to adapt their content to different markets? They don’t need only a translator, they also need someone with knowledge of the market and about which is the best way to adjust it to the Spanish audience.
This is called transcultural adaptations and it requires a web revision in the original language to understand the campaigns before starting to produce adapted content for the new readers.
If you are considering this type of translation, you must take into account that your content has to be very dynamic. This could be a good option for these companies working in different countries.
Which is the best solution?
There is no option better than others. It depends on the content you have, how dynamic it is and what your expectations are about your Spanish audience.
If you need more information do not hesitate to contact us, Nementio is here to help you!
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