Translate websites
Translating websites is a complex issue.
On this page, we provide information about the various options for creating multilingual websites.
The Three Approaches to Website Translation
Generally speaking, there are three different approaches to translating websites.
1. Manual translation
2. Machine translation (of all pages)
3. Real-time translation
On this page, we explain the pros and cons of each approach, when each approach is appropriate, and what costs are involved.
The article and the comparison highlight why Conword is uses real-time translation.
1. Manual translation
Translations done by professional translators are generally of the highest quality. Unfortunately, this often requires customizing your CMS. Translating every single page and integrating it into the CMS is time-consuming, expensive, and makes updating the site very labor-intensive.
Advantages:
- Very good Quality
Disadvantages:
- Very expensive
- Very time-consuming
- Not scalable
- not practical in everyday life
Who is this solution suitable for?
Manual translations may be suitable for small websites where every word counts (e.g., in the legal field). However, this solution is hardly feasible for larger websites or organizations with limited resources.
2. Automatic translation of all pages
Translating all the subpages of a website can sometimes be very expensive.
- Use of the results for internal and external search engines
- Scalable for large budgets
Disadvantages:
- Expensive (due to CMS restructuring and large data volumes)
- Redesign of the CMS / URL structures
- This may be an unnecessary expense, since not all pages are used in all languages
Who is this solution suitable for?
This solution is suitable for small, international websites with a large budget and generally few changes to their subpages.
3. AI-powered real-time translation (such as conword)
With real-time website translation, only the requested content is translated. This is efficient and easy on the wallet. Thanks to high-performance APIs, real-time translations are very fast these days.
Advantages:
- Scalable
- Cost-effective
- Platform-independent
- Flexible
Disadvantages:
- No multilingual results in internal and external searches
Who is this solution suitable for?
Real-time translations are suitable for websites of all sizes and types.
For large websites, real-time translation is the best solution.
Conclusion
Of the three options listed above, real-time translation is the most cost-effective and flexible way to translate a website. Unless your website is very small or you have a limited budget, you should opt for this solution.
Conword was developed for large websites and therefore relies on the only scalable translation method: real-time translation.
Interested? Feel free to give us a call or send us an email, and we’ll set up a live demo for your website.
