#SpeakingToGlobalCustomers
The Internet is a funny place – language-wise. We invented all the devices, networks and technology to share an infinite amount of wisdom, yet we hardly understand relevant parts of it. Obviously, people would upload their knowledge in the language they are able to speak. Usually, this is their mother tongue or possibly (some sort of) English – but if I understand neither, I’m lost.
A couple of years ago, a website called Duolingo had the idea of creating a win-win-win situation. People could learn a language for free on the page and would translate real online texts in their exercises, thereby translating the Internet step by step. Well, I guess the idea is brilliant! Still, things cooled off a bit around Duolingo– how much has been translated? Does it actually work?
Also interesting are translation services like lengoo from Karlsruhe. Instead of working exclusively with professional translators they also work with well-educated, multilingual students. This way, they offer qualified translations of people who know the area (e.g. geothermal energies) for fair prices and aim at beating the market with a great price-performance ratio.
What we ask ourselves at Sugartrends is, whether translation is really necessary at all. While our ‘working language’ remains English, we try to maintain our online marketplace in German as well – which, admittedly, eats a lot of our human resources for translation and revision. But is this really necessary? Don’t Germans– and especially the ones we are building our service for – speak or at least understand English anyways?
By just implementing English on Sugartrends, we would save a lot of time and actually treat our German customers the same way we do with our Portuguese, Italian or Slovakian ones.
Do we run the risk of losing you without having your native language implemented on our website and store? Or would you even pay more to get content translated into the language you like?
We’re very curious as this could not only optimize our processes but generate completely new business models!
Cordially,
Clemens & Julius, Sugartrends and lengoo
