3 Crowdsourcing Services for Translating Your Website

Despite popular belief, English is not the universal language of the Internet. The U.S. Government knows this better than anyone, which is why they look to NAICS code 54193 to acquire the services necessary to translate .gov sites into multiple languages.

What form do these services typically take? Direct contract labor of course, which isn’t cheap. Imagine the expense involved when you have to translate your website into 75 languages. OWW EEE.

So next time you need to translate your website into one or more languages (I’m looking at you contracting officer), why not give crowdsourcing a shot? As if I anticipated your next question, here are three such service providers that you can turn to:

• Smartling – Offering “powerful translation management for websites and mobile apps,” Smartling actually provides you with three different translation options. The cheapest and fastest is machine translation, but it is also the least accurate. Professional translation can be expensive, but far more accurate. Giving you the best middle ground is crowdsourced translation; it is relatively inexpensive and can be almost as accurate as the professional translation service. Pricing varies by content and traffic volume. As an added bonus, Smartling can host your new language sites for you, leaving you responsible only to host your root language version.
• Gengo – Working either through online submission or by way of the API, Gengo employs a team of pre-tested translators. When the translation is complete, you can review and comment on the translation, getting corrections for free. The finished project is then delivered to you via email or back through the API. Standard pricing starts at $0.05 per word and goes up to about $0.15/word for the “ultra” level, which includes professional-grade service with extra proofreading.
• FoxTranslate – Translating everything from immigration documents to legal documents, FoxTranslate supports 34 different languages. These include Italian, Hindi, German, Chinese, Arabic, Russian and more. While FoxTranslate has a certified translation service for official documents, like birth certificates, a website translation would fall under the business translation service. That costs 12 cents per word and is deliverable in Word format.