Forum Moderators: martinibuster
you can add a java script to your site...
Sure you can. You can take a blow-up doll to bed with you if you want too. I'd rather have the real thing though.
There is absolutely no comparison between machine translation and having an actual native speaker do the job for you. In fact, machine translations can get you in trouble. I had to refund a nice down payment and eat about 10 hours of work once to a German speaking client because my machine translations of his emailed instructions were so far off the mark that what I was putting out wasn't even close to what he actually wanted. Hard way to learn a lesson.
Another case in point: I once did an entire machine translation of my main site into Spanish thinking I'd just go ahead and nail down a little corner of that market as well. Within days I had Spanish speaking visitors emailing me:
"What in the hell do you think you're doing esé? You need to fire your translator vato. Their Spanish is reeeeediculous. Adios amigo!"
If you can get a real person to do the job, and apparently you've got one lined up, by all means use them. Machine translations have come a long way since then but if you have a technical site or any other informative type site where clarity is critical you can't afford to not go with an actual translation
I don't know anything about Russian and Polish markets and of course that's your question. I've been known to drink Russian vodka but I don't think that counts.
Are translations worth it in general? I guess it would depend on how much you're paying for it. Going with a professional service can be extremely pricey. If you can get a fluent friend to do it for next to nothing...
Our "translated" Russian site earns not much for the effort that has gone into it but the earnings are improving and the market in Russia, in my opinion, will continue to slowly improve.
Yandex is the other alternative to to Adsense. But first you need the page view volume to get into their scheme. And when you hit that, you find out that they will only pay earnings into a Russian bank account. A joke really. Their secretive and inward looking nature will eventually be their downfall. Google is slowly but surely catching them up.
About machine translations, I hope it was a joke. Sheesh. it's fine if you're trying to get the gist of an article written in another language, but never, ever use it to translate the content of your site to make a public translated version, you'll just look really ridiculous and unprofessional.
