Most people think that translation is not needed for web design. But according to Statistica, about 25.9% of websites are English-only websites and do not cater to the rest of internet users.
According to the same source, English isn’t even the mother tongue of most users, but rather it’s an inherited or secondary language they use. Chinese, Spanish and Arabic are other languages most used online that don’t have the same number of online content compared to English.
So when planning some website design ideas, you might want to consider accommodating the language mentioned to personalize your user experience (UX) and User Interface (UI).
Due to this, we decided to seek out experts on web design and translation. In our research, we came across someone who specializes in ensuring that the UX and UI of any website are relatable to global users. Camille Brozas from the UX and UI department of Tomedes Translation Company has worked on redefining the web designs of international brands through a method called: “Translation First, Not Last.”
Today, we will explore the best practices of a translation company for web design and translation. We will also discuss why you should consider the culture and language of your target audience when translating your website to enhance your users’ UX and UI.
Are you ready to find out more about how design translates? Let’s go!
Why are Professional Translation Companies Important in Web Design?
Even though the most used language online is English, you’re missing out on the rest of the world’s online users who don’t speak it if your website remains monolingual.
To emphasize how crucial translation is, we’ve listed some statistics that might astound you:
- “An estimated 7,139 languages are being spoken today. Its number fluctuates as new varieties are discovered, or old ones become extinct.” (Linguistic Society)
- “72% of consumers spend the majority of their time on websites that are in their native language.” (Think with Google)
- “82% of shoppers said they would most likely purchase products and services if the marketing content was in their mother tongue.” (Think with Google)
- Simplified Chinese online content only makes up 1.4% of the top 100 websites, even though its native speakers make up 14.3% of international users. (Visual Capitalist)
- 33.3% of international users aged 16 to 64 use online translation tools to browse content every week. (GWI)
When we asked Camille Brozas from the UX and UI department of Tomedes about what web developers should expect from the translation company you’re collaborating with:
“Your main goal is to build a product/website that can be used by people regardless of race, location, and language. Designing a website requires ’empathy,’ so we need to put ourselves in the shoes of our users/customers.”
Brozas explains that if you want to build trust and security, you will need translation to convey that your products and solutions are made to help them with their problems, and the online experience feels more personalized.
Suppose you’re planning to enter several markets. In that case, we advise you to work with professional translation companies because, besides their diverse linguistic expertise, they can help provide insight into your target market on how to attract your international users. For this very reason, you must make “Translation First, Not Last” when brainstorming for website design ideas.
Why is Translation Usually at the End of the Web Design Process?
However, many web developers usually treat translation last when they plan to give their website a facelift and will not seek a translation company for their web design process.
There are several reasons some would treat translation as an afterthought. One reason is that translation is a purely textual process and word-for-word replacement in another language.
Another reason is that web developers don’t want to change much of their branding for their target audience to make it consistent across different countries.
To give you an idea of why culture and translation are crucial, let’s examine the concept of design thinking. According to the Hasso-Plattner Institute of Design, there are five stages in design thinking.
The first stage is to Empathize.
The first purpose of design is to empathize with your users about the problem that your design is trying to solve. You empathize with them by understanding what they’re looking for and why they can’t find it because of the design.
The second step is to Define.
Closely interrogating the problem that you’re trying to solve is part of defining the problem. Exactly what do you need to solve that problem? How is this problem blocking potential users from your site? How do you want them to engage with your design and, ultimately, your service or product?
The third step is to Ideate.
After defining the problem, the next step is to bring everything together in a design. The designers should already have background knowledge and thus solve the problem with specific ideas. The primary design should be done.
The fourth stage is the Prototype.
The design then takes its form in a prototype. The prototype stage is where all the designs are made, so the ideations become fully functional designs. Ideally, the design solves the problem you’re trying to solve, and you’ve implemented this solution in a prototype.
And the fifth and very important stage is to Test.
But it’s not yet done once you get to the prototype stage. The last and final important stage is to test your Prototype. Continual testing is done on the product to see how personalized it is to the user experience.
The translation is important in the user experience because it is necessary to adjust to the language of your target audience. Some might say translation is UX.
“Most of the companies create a prototype/design that will cater to different languages, which means that translation is usually done at the prototype type stage,” says Brozas.
What is the Tomedes Translation Company Method for UI and UX?
Here is where Brozas differentiates between the usual process and the Tomedes method. Says Brozas:
“To fully ‘localize’ a website, we must first know and understand the target users and their demographics, esp. their language. If there’s a gap/disconnection/barrier between the product and the user, we can’t guarantee that we’ve created the “solution” to our users’ problem.”
She goes on to talk about the process at Tomedes Translation Company:
“That’s why our method is the same as the Design Thinking approach: Empathize, Define, Ideate, Prototype, Test. But instead, we put translation first in our method, in the Define section, rather than in the Prototype section.
For this reason, we create a User Journey Map and multiple User Personas for our multilingual projects. We create a vision for how our users will use the product on the user journey map. We can foresee our users’ possible problems through journey mapping while using our product.
Through this, we can give a better user experience. User journey mapping includes creating user personas, possible scenarios, expectations, what-ifs, and the whole process of the product. But, at Tomedes, this all happens at the ideation and the definition stages.
So we can confront the problems in design for the user and thus begin designing with language translation in mind, rather than transforming the Prototype to become multilingual. It’s a collaborative process that’s still up for revision, but this process we believe has the user in mind.”
Why Should Translation be at the Beginning of Your Website Design Ideas and Process?
As discussed throughout this article, you should consider translation earlier during your brainstorming of website design ideas. Because of this, the professional translation companies you will be working with have to know about the ideation and definition stages. You will have to work closely with them to ensure that it reaches your target market when you launch your website.
The role of a translation company in the web design process is crucial. They will have to find a way to ensure that your website’s brand is consistent and relatable to your target audience. You personalize their UX while gaining their trust in the long term by doing so.
