Speaking the right language to reach Londoners

Website admins and community outreach take note: even a first glance at the latest release of UK Census figures shows just how much of a global city London has become. (A more detailed blog looking at the picture across the UK will follow once we have crunched the numbers.)

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The data released today reveals that in most parts of London over 100 languages are spoken Continue reading “Speaking the right language to reach Londoners”

Community translation website uplift

New figures let UK websites boost their audience by revealing languages to consider for translation. Below we look at the top options.

Last week’s Census figures give UK websites and community projects insight into which languages to target for translation in a specific locality or nationwide. In an earlier article, I argued community translation can increase your audience and their involvement – and the new Census figures give further insight.
Continue reading “Community translation website uplift”

Website translation: choosing languages to go world-wide

Three quarters of internet users don’t speak English as their first language.

That’s the picture according to “best guess” statistics from Internet World Stats (see “Crunching the stats” below). This means a vast amount of potential traffic is being ignored by many site admins and developers.

But how do you get to grips with the “other” three quarters of the planet, and which languages should you choose?

Internet langauges worldwide

(click to enlarge)

Continue reading “Website translation: choosing languages to go world-wide”

UK export advice: how to sell more abroad

Great news for both the UK economy and those of us who spend our days providing translation – or, more loftily, helping global communication. Britain’s trade gap with the rest of the world narrowed more than expected in July, driven by record exports to countries outside the European Union, reports the Telegraph (Good News Britain: UK trade deficit narrows in July)

In fact, July is the third month in a row that exports to countries outside the EU has been higher than exports to eurozone countries. Continue reading “UK export advice: how to sell more abroad”

Why flags founder for multilingual website navigation

Flag icons are a bad choice for language navigation within websites. We explain why, and look at some better options, in the first of our series on multilingual website design.

The internet has allowed an explosion in multilingual communication. Previously companies or organisations had to produce printed publications in a limited range of languages and physically get the right language version in the right place. Now a website can easily be translated into several languages, preferably by a professional translator of course.

But what is the best way to show site users how to switch between languages? Continue reading “Why flags founder for multilingual website navigation”