1. Allowing your customers to localize their content should come first. This will add immediate value to your current market base and you will learn how to handle i18n issues in the process. Localizing the UI has little value if your clients are unable to display properly their content in their own language.
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2. Providing Machine Translation out of the box is simply a terrible idea. We are not only talking of poor grammar here, mistakes or errors in translation can result in loss sales and legal problems. MT is a process. To give acceptable results the MT engine must first be feed with content specific to the domain and then be trained with iterative round of reviews (post editing) by human translators. Needless to say this is not provided with free online translation services, and that it requires a certain size and budget to be a viable option at all.
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2. Providing Machine Translation out of the box is simply a terrible idea. We are not only talking of poor grammar here, mistakes or errors in translation can result in loss sales and legal problems. MT is a process. To give acceptable results the MT engine must first be fed with content specific to the domain and then be trained with iterative round of reviews (post editing) by human translators. Needless to say this is not provided with free online translation services, and that it requires a certain size and budget to be a viable option at all.
Rather, I suggest you focus on a UI and workflows that make it simple to manage multilingual content, and to export/import translation. Take a look at the wcms Ektron or Drupal or the DMS Alfresco for examples of implementations.
For the export/import, use industry standard formats such as [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/XLIFF|xllff], and provide an API, or allow plug-ins to be designed, to interface with the Translation Management System of the language service vendors out there.
1. Allowing your customers to localize their content should come first. This will add immediate value to your current market base and you will learn how to handle i18n issues in the process. Localizing the UI has little value if your clients are unable to display properly their content in their own language.
2. Providing Machine Translation out of the box is simply a terrible idea. We are not only talking of poor grammar here, mistakes or errors in translation can result in loss sales and legal problems. MT is a process. To give acceptable results the MT engine must first be feed with content specific to the domain and then be trained with iterative round of reviews (post editing) by human translators. Needless to say this is not provided with free online translation services, and that it requires a certain size and budget to be a viable option at all.
Rather, I suggest you focus on a UI and workflows that make it simple to manage multilingual content, and to export/import translation. Take a look at the wcms Ektron or Drupal or the DMS Alfresco for examples of implementations.
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For the export/import, use industry standard formats such as [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/XLIFF|xllff], and provide an API, or allow plug-ins to be designed, to interface with the [http://www.htlocalization.com/en/technology/cms|Translation Management System] of the language service vendors out there.
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For the export/import, use industry standard formats such as [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/XLIFF|xllff], and provide an API, or allow plug-ins to be designed, to interface with the Translation Management System of the language service vendors out there.
1. Allowing your customers to localize their content should come first. This will add immediate value to your current market base and you will learn how to handle i18n issues in the process. Localizing the UI has little value if your clients are unable to display properly their content in their own language.
2. Providing Machine Translation out of the box is simply a terrible idea. We are not only talking of poor grammar here, mistakes or errors in translation can result in loss sales and legal problems. MT is a process. To give acceptable results the MT engine must first be feed with content specific to the domain and then be trained with iterative round of reviews (post editing) by human translators. Needless to say this is not provided with free online translation services, and that it requires a certain size and budget to be a viable option at all.
Rather, I suggest you focus on a UI and workflows that make it simple to manage multilingual content, and to export/import translation. Take a look at the wcms Ektron or Drupal or the DMS Alfresco for examples of implementations.
-
For the export/import, use industry standard formats such as [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/XLIFF|xllff], and provide an API, or allow plug-ins to be designed, to interface with the Translation Management System of the language service vendors out there.
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For the export/import, use industry standard formats such as [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/XLIFF|xllff], and provide an API, or allow plug-ins to be designed, to interface with the [http://www.htlocalization.com/en/technology/cms|Translation Management System] of the language service vendors out there.
I totally second Norbert's answer.
1. Allowing your customers to localize their content should come first. This will add immediate value to your current market base and you will learn how to handle i18n issues in the process. Localizing the UI has little value if your clients are unable to display properly their content in their own language.
2. Providing Machine Translation out of the box is simply a terrible idea. We are not only talking of poor grammar here, mistakes or errors in translation can result in loss sales and legal problems. MT is a process. To give acceptable results the MT engine must first be feed with content specific to the domain and then be trained with iterative round of reviews (post editing) by human translators. Needless to say this is not provided with free online translation services, and that it requires a certain size and budget to be a viable option at all.
Rather, I suggest you focus on a UI and workflows that make it simple to manage multilingual content, and to export/import translation. Take a look at the wcms Ektron or Drupal or the DMS Alfresco for examples of implementations.
For the export/import, use industry standard formats such as [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/XLIFF|xllff], and provide an API, or allow plug-ins to be designed, to interface with the Translation Management System of the language service vendors out there.
Hervé Thevenet
Co-founder [http://www.htlocalization.com|HT Localization]
Translation & Localization Service Provider