Producing multilingual content – digital guide

A practical guide for preparing content for translation, choosing mediums and working with a translation provider.

Before you begin

This guide will help you navigate the process of developing and publishing multilingual content. We recommend using this guide in conjunction with the following Victorian Government guides:

Developing multilingual content is about connecting with people, not about the language they speak.

Think about who the audience is. This is the most important thing to do before you get started. You need to understand your audience to produce the right type of content for them. Does the audience read in their language or only speak? How do these communities consume content? Does your user read a simplified version of their language? These are all questions to answer before developing any content.

Once you know what the content will be, consider developing it directly in the appropriate language. Simply translating content written in English into multiple languages won’t be as effective and may not make sense to your audience.

Engage an expert translation provider when you begin to plan your campaign – they’ll be able to provide the most value if you work with them from the start.

Machine automated interpreting and translating tools

Machine automated interpreting and translating tools translate and interpret with no human involvement. They can, for example, automatically translate information on a website from one language to another.

Victorian Government policy strongly recommends engaging National Accreditation Authority for Translators (NAATI) credentialed interpreters and translators. The policy currently advises against the use of automated interpreting and translating tools, which cannot at present be guaranteed to be accurate. While some machine tools are improving, they still have a reasonably high chance of incorrectly translating information. Remember, these tools may be unable to take into account:

variations in dialect and language
linguistic preferences of communities
actual meaning (i.e. word for word translation does not consider overall comprehension)
specific cultural references
other nuances such as politeness level

There may be risks of legal action due to distorted translations. It is unlikely that a disclaimer about the content in an automatic translation would relieve an organisation of the responsibility for the information provided.

Written content that has been translated by a machine should always be checked for accuracy by a NAATI credentialed translator.

Prepare your content for translation

Use data to select languages

Go back to who your audience is. Are you looking to reach established communities or recent migrants? It could be both.

Use existing internal and external data to determine which languages to translate your content into.

Some useful data resources include:

Local Government Area (LGA) established community and migrant data
Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS) migrant data matrices
ABS community profiles(opens in a new window)
Department of Home Affairs (DHA) settlement data reports
CALD research data or reports
Data Vic(opens in a new window)

Contact the Department of Premier and Cabinet if you need advice multicultural.communications@dpc.vic.gov.au

Consider format and channel selection

This is key for efficiency and effectiveness. Some communities or demographics can be reached effectively through digital and social advertising – others cannot. Some communities have low literacy in their native language and will require an audio version to best access the information.

Online access models: Determining who will access the website will help to decide which online access model is most appropriate.
Direct access: Navigation from the homepage to translated documents is available in languages other than English enables people to find the translated information for themselves.
Mediated access: For when navigation is in English only. Service providers or other English-speakers access the translated information on behalf of people who require it.
Dual access: Navigation is both in English and in the languages of translation. Labels for links and documents are in English and translated languages to enable both direct and mediated access to translations.

Your Master Agency Media Services (MAMS)(opens in a new window) contact can advise you on media strategy, planning, buying and reporting.

Read more about advertising and government communications(opens in a new window) including requirements, policies, guidelines and approval processes.

Keep it simple

Write in plain English and keep sentences short. Simple language and visuals that reduce cognitive load will increase the impact of your message.

Clear and concise English copy is more likely to ‘translate well’ and be clear and well understood than complex copy.

And remember to publish an English-language version alongside translated ones. English content can be a starting point for users seeking multilingual content. So, make sure it’s easy to find.

Focus on foundation pieces

Complex information risks inaccuracies and is more expensive.

Create summary and overview documents as foundation pieces to translate and additional translations can follow as time and budget permit and as community needs are known. Seek feedback from communities on those documents which will help to frame future translation projects.

Include a social media asset and caption for stakeholders to share on social media.

Support for your audience

Where can community members or website users go if they have questions? If translated material provides links to other resources, consider how a person with limited English will access these. At a minimum – refer community members to call the Translating and Interpreting Service (TIS) National hotline 131 450 and ask to be connected to the relevant agency.

Choose your mediums

Online

Use HTML for accessibility and discoverability – avoid PDF or Word documents
Consider the user journey – will someone who can’t speak English find this resource?
Request translations to be in Unicode
Consider additional material for translation including – social media posts, document metadata, alternative text for images
Include transcripts and closed captions when producing videos
Include shareable assets such as jpegs for stakeholder distribution
Consider naming conventions when creating pages and storing media items in your content management system (CMS) – this will assist editors to easily find and update the page in future
Work with your developers to ensure your site supports other languages
Add HTML language tags(opens in a new window)
Ensure links are in the language of the page you’re linking to
Translate headings to match the content language
Make sure content is timestamped, and removed or updated if out of date

Print

Provide a lot of space between the text and graphics. The space taken up by a translation will often increase compared with the English version, and in some cases, it will decrease
Producing an easy English version may be useful in some situations where a community has acquired a basic English proficiency. Consider translating easy English documents into languages spoken in the community
Consider using infographics to support text
Consider providing these materials to community centres and libraries as they are often a source of information
Consider engaging a local community ambassador to help distribute printed material and amplify your message
Don’t print content that is specific in nature or is likely to change. Stick to general information.

Audio

Audio is the preference for many due to low literacy (for example the Rohingya community and those with older populations such as Greek and Italian)
Multicultural audiences are drawn to messages they perceive as relevant to them or their situation. This can be communicated via role-play scenarios
Focus on the human element of the message and relate it to personal circumstances
Highlight the tangible benefits or harm
Audio is more accessible for those with low literacy skills

Video

An alternative to expensive production is filming community representatives – even on smartphones. The Victorian Multicultural Commission and the Department of Premier and Cabinet can help identify talent
Check any images and content to ensure these are culturally appropriate. If in doubt consult relevant community organisations
Consider filming community ambassadors, leaders and members – using Anglo-Celtic actors with subtitles can create offence and inhibit identification with the message
Always include transcripts and closed captions
Video is more accessible for those with low literacy skills

Produce your content

Improve awareness

Be mindful that the written format may not suit everyone. Some people may not be able to read the language they speak and some languages are rarely displayed in written form
Don’t expect your target audience to come to you
Prepare content with a ‘hook’ that will encourage them to find out more rather than straight information. A short message is most powerful

Include a clear call to action

Include a clear call to action at the top
The CTA should lead CALD communities to more useful, translated information at the other end
Focus on practical and essential information. Don’t worry about vision statements
Break up complex actions with step-by-step instructions

How to title or refer to multilingual content on your website

There are many ways to refer to multilingual content on your website. We recommend using inclusive titles like ‘in your language’. We don’t recommend using titles like ‘other languages’ or ‘translated content’.

Links to other pages

All links should be in the language of the page, for example, if you are linking back to an English language page the link should be in English.

For example: Guiding users to translated pages(opens in a new window).

Working with translation providers

For a detailed guide on engaging translation providers, read Arranging translations.

There are a few things to know and consider when working with translation providers.

Understanding what’s a reasonable workload for a translator can help organisations plan their projects and have realistic expectations about quality vs speed. Be sure to provide a central point of contact to discuss any issues that arise during the translation process.

It’s also good practice to have the translation provider create the content directly in your CMS. This reduces the chance of mistakes being made during the upload process. Be sure to allow time and resources to train them if they’re new to your system.

Content purpose and meaning

Instruct the translation services provider to translate the meaning and not the words. This will maximise impact and avoid gaps in meaning. There may not always be equivalent concepts or words.

Advise on the purpose of the translation, the intended audience (age of audience may be important for the terms chosen), and how you intend to use them.

Print or online

Provide them with background information and materials, including glossaries and previously translated information. If the copy is short add notes to explain the broader concept.

Glossaries can help organisations manage the quality of their translations as part of their communications strategy rather than producing standalone translated documents.

Printed content can be outdated as soon as it’s printed. Avoid requesting print for specific content, something that is likely to change. Reserve printed materials for general content like hygiene requirements or social distancing.

Independent checking

Ensure the service provider includes independent checking by a second certified translator (where available) and if you can access communities request a local review of translations to ensure the material meets their needs. If the language is too formal it may not work well for a younger target audience. This review process also builds engagement and buy-in from the local community, making them more likely to access, share and use the materials.

Displaying content

Some questions to ask when checking if the content is displayed correctly include:

Is the text rendering correctly?
Is a suitable font being used?
Did the text become corrupted when it was added to the website?
Are lines wrapping or breaking in acceptable places?
Are right-to-left languages displaying correctly?

Text alignment, positioning of bullets, punctuation and phone numbers should be checked.

For web content, ask the translation services provider to perform a final check of the translations after these are loaded onto the website to ensure the text is displayed accurately. Also, check mobile viewing as vertical sizing is difficult to achieve with right-aligned text such as Arabic.

Where appropriate, ensure right-to-scripts are available. This will help graphic designers develop English resources that are suitable for translation. For example, languages such as Vietnamese and Spanish need 20-30% more space than English. So appropriate graphic design will have enough white space for the Spanish/Vietnamese translations to fit in without reducing font size or altering the graphics.

For translations that are to be hosted in HTML, your Digital Content Producer must be experienced with working with multilingual content. If you do not have this experience, speak to your translation services provider to place translated text in your CMS for you.

Distributing your content

There is a direct link between reach and proactive distribution. All translated content needs to be accompanied by a distribution and discovery plan. While paid advertising will achieve results (particularly on social media and radio), stakeholder outreach can also be very effective with minimal costs associated.

Don’t assume that users will come to your website, community engagement is important. Your audience might not be online.

Social media: in-language communication from government on social media is likely to stand out and be noticed, as most of the advertising people see is in English. Ensure you include social media posts in your translated content.
Stakeholders: many communities rely on information distributed through community leaders, often via WhatsApp. Community centres, health services like maternal and child health, faith locations and libraries are also important sources of information. Stakeholder kits with images and key messages are very effective and easy to distribute.

Use a trusted messenger

At times of high anxiety, people look to those they trust as sources of reliable information about what to do. Use a trusted messenger who has credibility among your audience, particularly on the matter at hand. The messenger effect describes our tendency to evaluate the quality and credibility of a message based on the source rather than simply the content of the message.

The credibility of a source can be influenced by perceived expertise, similarity, or identification with the audience.

Use a trusted, credible source to promote your message
Choose a source relevant to the nature of the issue

For example, health professionals as a source of information or advice about health issues or local elders as a messenger when reaching out to specific CALD community.

Stakeholder networks

These are a great starting point for sharing translated materials:

For advice on distribution channels, please contact:

Strategic Communications, Engagement and Protocol Branch, DPC: multicultural.communications@dpc.vic.gov.au
For distribution among DPC networks, please provide content to Mandy Griffiths: mandy.griffiths@dpc.vic.gov.au
For distribution among Victorian Multicultural Commission networks, please provide content to contact@vmc.vic.gov

Test and iterate

You should test the content while it’s being consumed.

With digital, there is an opportunity to test and evaluate in real-time
Include different headings as part of the translation and A/B test them
For social media choose different images and targeting to work out the most effective combination
Apply learnings in the next campaign

Evaluation

Review what you’ve produced through any data or feedback provided. You may find that things worked while others did not.

Update translated material on a website whenever the original English version changes.
Assess the effectiveness of the translated publication in conveying the intended information. This might include specifically requesting feedback or conducting surveys of the target audience and relevant service providers
Review the languages the translated content has been translated into. Other languages may need to be added from time to time, to reflect Victoria’s changing migration and resettlement patterns
Monitor the distribution of the translated material by continuously collecting website data on visits to translated pages, choice of language and referral traffic. This data can improve understanding of who accesses the website
Keep original English versions of translations. This is helpful when making corrections or updates, or repurposing content to make a brochure, printed publication, or new webpage. Because most translations are costed on a per word basis, making minor updates to existing documents is cheaper than translating a new document.

Digital

For web pages, check visits to translated pages and any referral traffic.
For social media, check total reach and engagement.
For videos, check views and average viewing time.
Check how many contacts viewed and downloaded the content.
Check for any feedback provided directly from users.

Print

Check how many copies were printed.
Check how many contacts received copies.

Radio

Check where the audio was placed.
Check for available data.

Reflections and feedback

If you’re planning more content, use what you’ve discovered to improve the experience for next time.

What resonated the most for each language?
What insights can you share with your wider team?

Governance

Updated 8 November 2023

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Producing multilingual content – digital guide

On this page

Before you begin

Machine automated interpreting and translating tools

Prepare your content for translation

Use data to select languages

Consider format and channel selection

Keep it simple

Focus on foundation pieces

Support for your audience

Choose your mediums

Online

Print

Audio

Video

Produce your content

Improve awareness

Include a clear call to action

How to title or refer to multilingual content on your website

Links to other pages

Working with translation providers

Content purpose and meaning

Print or online

Independent checking

Displaying content

Distributing your content

Use a trusted messenger

Stakeholder networks

Test and iterate

Evaluation

Digital

Print

Radio

Reflections and feedback

Related links

Join the conversation on digital