French English Translation

If you publish documents or content on your website in French, there are several good reasons why you should consider French to English translation of your site. Estimates of English speakers in the world vary, but may be as many as 450 million. In order to reach this extraordinarily large percentage of the world population it makes a lot of sense to translate your content into English.

French in 33 Countries

You might be thinking that the cost of French English translation outweighs the benefits because you can reach a wide audience by targeting French speakers alone. After all French is the official language of 33 countries around the world, including France itself, parts of Canada, Africa, and Switzerland, as well as other countries throughout five different continents. In fact French is the most widely spoken language with the exception of one other, and that is English.

English in 45 Countries

English is the official language of 45 countries in the world and unofficially it is taught as a second language in many countries across the world, including Germany, Scandinavia, Japan, China, and Russia, to name just a few. Another thing to consider is that English is spoken in areas of the world that have higher numbers of Internet consumers. For example, the population of America is about 334 million by recent estimates (the number is constantly growing). The population of Great Britain is a further 59 million, with another 24 million in Australia and New Zealand. In Canada, only 7 million are French speakers and 24 million are English speakers.

French English Translation: a Vital Need

Statistics show that visitors to a commercial website are four times more likely to make a purchase if that website is published in their native language. Indeed, with the proliferation of English websites offering an unprecedented variety of goods and services, why would English speakers consider purchasing from a “foreign” site? Indeed most English speakers will automatically be directed to web sites whose content is published in English and many English speakers may not even be aware of websites in other languages. In order to locate French content on the web, it is generally necessary to use French keywords in the search engine. This is why it is absolutely vital to perform French English translation of your site if you wish to attract a large number of non-French speakers.

Choose your English

You might be wondering which version of English to use in your French English translation since each of these countries have slight variations in grammar, pronunciation and vocabulary? Given the popularity of American T.V. shows and movies, American English, while not spoken regionally, is probably the most widely recognized version of English. In addition, The United States enjoys the largest percentage of Internet users amongst its population. Over 70% of Americans are Internet users. That means if you are performing French English translation, in America alone you stand to reach more than 237 million additional Internet users.

French English Translation: a Key Step to Global Reach

So for a truly global market, if you are already maintaining a website in the French language, consider that French English translation will provide the opportunity to reach speakers of the two most popular languages across the globe. By broadening your reach to speakers of English you will also be reaching the largest population of Internet users in the world today.