Script based translation tools

Everyone who is knowledgeable about internet marketing has heard about it and at least once seen the results of them once: script based translation tools. A brilliant idea, so it seems, for all who speak only one language and webmasters that like to provide a multi-lingual website to a very broad audience.

Well, in theory it is a brilliant idea but unfortunately at this time with no real practical value. The idea behind these translation scripts is to produce massive content for ones website as well as to have a very broad AdSense platform, or any other context optimized advertising for that matter, to enhance click through income.

At this moment in time these translation scripts are sadly not good enough to deliver on either. In fact they produce a massive amount of translated pages but no useful content. Translations are only to comprehend for the original author. Any first time visitor to a script based translated page will have a hard time to make any sense of the texts provided. Take a look at this small example here.

One and the same translation script has been used for the following example. Text A is taken from a life website written in English. Text B is the resulting translation in German of that very same website.

A. Drive traffic to your website, ezine or blog and let the world know you are the expert in your niche. If you want to share your knowledge with the world and promote yourself, products or services at the same time, here is the place to do just that.

B. Fahren Sie Verkehr zu Ihrer Web site, zu ezine oder zu blog und informieren Sie die Welt Sie sind der Experte in Ihrer Nische. Wenn Sie Ihr Wissen mit der Welt teilen und sich f?rdern m?chten, ist Produkte oder Dienstleistungen gleichzeitig, hier der Platz, zum gerade das zu tun.

Now for those of you who do not speak German that looks pretty impressive. However, for those of you who do understand German that looks very, very poor to say the least. Rubbish comes to mind, too! Have a look at Text C., as this would be the correct German translation. Text D. is the script based translation back into English. Actually that is supposed be the same again as text A. but the end result is far from it.

C. Teilen Sie der Welt mit, dass Sie der Experte in Ihrem Spezialgebiet sind und ziehen Sie Besucher f?r Ihre Webseite, Ezine oder Blog an. Wenn Sie Ihr Wissen mit der Welt teilen m?chten, dann sind Sie hier an der richtigen Stelle. Werben Sie f?r sich und bewerben Sie hier Ihre Dienstleistungen und Produkte.

D. Communicate to the world the fact that you are the expert in your special field and tightens you visitors for your web page, ezine or blog. If you like to divide your knowledge with the world,, then you are here in the correct place. Recruit for itself and apply you here your service and products.

Now then this is only a small example on the basis of a very simple piece of text. Think about your expert articles and a more complex choice of words and phrases. You can try out these scripts with any language available the result is always the same.

Most webmaster who do use these translation scripts are trying to provide a useful added service for their international audience, not realising that in fact the provide only a massive amount of pages with no useful / comprehendible content at all. By the way, check AdSense blocks, even they show results completely of track. No relevance to the actual, intended context of the original text.

It is a known fact that visitors to a website decide in milliseconds whether to stay or to move on. Chances are that no international visitor will click any ads on the translated, not even out of pity as they will not remain long enough on the page to do so. Have a read of one of the many articles about who to write your websites text and the good advice of using the correct choice of words, grammar and the language as a whole. That advice is valid for any text in any language original or translation.

In time these translation tools might get better but surely not error free. In the same time search engine spiders and bots will get more intelligent too. Be careful that your script based translated pages, accepted now as additional content might be seen as duplicated nonsense in the future. International visitors see them already today as useless and any visitor entering your website through one of those translated pages is one visitor lost.

While testing the available translation scripts 7 languages were tested with native speakers of the respective languages. The result was always the same as in the small example above. While testing these scripts it became apparent that script based translations are widely used by webmasters that are coming from an English speaking country. In Europe for example it is very common for people to speak two or more languages fluently and with ease. The use of script based translations on European websites is non-existence.

If you as a webmaster belief that it will pay off to offer a multi-lingual website to your audience, have you website professionally translated by a human. Only then you are offering a real service and it will benefit your AdSense income, too.

Arnold S. is participating in a life Internet Experiment, Geld im Netz, about making money online and useful webtools