Machine translation has come a long way since the application of neural networks to this task in the middle of the last decade. At the same time, the science of localizing websites to extend coverage to additional markets has grown by leaps and bounds.

Localization is by now “settled science” with hundreds of service providers and dozens of decent tools designed to simplify the process of creating multilingual websites. We’ll take a look at your options to achieve this result and focus on how to achieve this goal with a minimum of coding.

The Main Approaches to Website and App Translation and Localization

If you are an old school, hands-off website owner, the safe way to go is to entrust the task of translation and localization to outside experts. The terms “translation” and “localization” are often interchangeable, so most agencies that provide translation can also deliver localization and vice-versa.

If you’re inclined to take this route, google a short-list of the recommended agencies, describe your localization task, get free quotes, and make your selection based on the responses.

Working via agencies is the easy way to get a job done, effectively outsourcing this task and therefore avoiding doing the work yourself. You will pay a premium for this privilege: the cost of an agency is significantly higher than that of a freelance translation or localization resource.

If you want to outsource to a freelancer, you can go to freelance marketplaces like Upwork and Freelancer and collect bids for your project, then select the one that looks capable of delivering the best bang for the buck.

For the full-stack hacker, there’s the API route. Google is one of the leaders in the machine translation game, and the company has invested heavily both in the core algorithms needed for translating among more than 100 languages to one extent or another.

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