Why is it crucial to get beyond English-only content strategy?

26th Jul 2018 Foreign-Language-Growth-and-the-Impact-on-TESOL

Nobody can debate on the statement that English is the lingua franca. Since Ages it has been dominating the masses with its worldwide and authoritative presence. And, from last many years, we have been fed that English-only content is adequate to interact with the global audience.

Undoubtedly a high ratio of Internet users in the past embodied the populace who could concede and converse in English. But as the demographics of the Internet and the web community are changing, we have witnessed a need of becoming more diverse for exacting the obligations of our global business.

This blog post by Waterstone Translations sinks into the online language world and attests why English-only content strategy is not sufficient anymore.

Certainly Ensuing an English-only Content Strategy is Quite Reasonable and Straight!

Majority of the content published on the Internet even today is in English. It is estimated that more than 50% of all web content is for the English users.WebsiteContentLanguages.svgAdditionally, the figures in another study conducted by the University of Düsseldorf asserts that the English by far remains the most studied and learned language with 1.5 billion learners. The next one in the lines is Chinese (82 million) and French (30 million).

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Why is it important to go over these figures?

Well looking at the stats for English, most marketers feel tempted and sense that English-only content is abundant to sustain their worldwide existence. However, with the Internet relinquishing almost all spaces of life, there is a growing a community that demand content in their native language.

This tendency is not just restricted to learning, news, and other information, rather the online community is looking for a regional content in the shopping, e-commerce, and also in service-based websites.

While English may be the more common language, however, it is just ranked third amongst the most popular languages in the world. In fact, Mandarin Chinese tops the list when it comes to most spoken languages. It consists of 1 billion native users.

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Spanish is second on this list with 405 million speakers and English having 360 million speakers. When ushered with the marketing needs, the preponderance of the business strategist assumes that English is the second language for the majority of the population. And, if not they concede the English Content. However, in most countries, less than 50% of the population speaks English.

Other Languages on the Ascension

It is noteworthy that when concluding a study that needs the participation of the common people, languages other than English are gaining more recognition in the academic circle.

One studied admitted that between 1990 and 2013 the number of colleges that were offering to teach Chinese has increased by 110%. This is evident from the numbers that now every language in the world is more accessible.

Statistics explicate that if you are speaking languages other than English, better if you are multilingual, you are more suitable to get a job. This can also boost your career to a greater degree.

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One studied discerned that US citizens that have command over German can earn up to $128,000 more than Americans who cannot, throughout their careers.

If you have good language skills in French and Spanish, this too will be rewarded in your business life. The people are more likely to engage your services.

More demand for Translated Content

As localization campaigns are on the move, translated content in the user's native language is slowly gaining trust on the Internet. A survey conducted by the Common Sense Advisory, one of the most popular researchers in the translation industry revealed that

  • 60% of online shoppers seldom or never buy from English-only e-commerce or shopping websites.
  • 55% of the participants affirmed that they prefer to purchase only when content is in their mother tongue,
  • 53% support that it’s more convenient to make a buying decision if the website is translated into their regional language, and
  • Lastly, 74% of online shoppers said that they are more likely to make a purchase second time if a website translates the content into their native language.

At Waterstone Translations we help you with Website Translations and Marketing Translations for amore a successful user Engagement. You can contact us by calling at +86 21 6224 3798 or email your questions at info@waterstonetranslations.com.