Does your website speak your customers’ language?

Here’s a number worth sitting with. In the 2021 census, 68,885 Coquitlam residents gave a language other than English or French as their mother tongue: nearly half the city. In Surrey, 128,305 people first learned Punjabi, more than one in five residents.

Plenty of those customers are comfortable in English. But when people choose a dentist for their parents, a lawyer for a family matter or a contractor for their home, many would rather read, compare and ask questions in their first language. If you already serve those communities, a second language on your website can be a real advantage.

Who should consider it

A second language is worth it when you can actually serve people in it. If someone on your team speaks the language, or a good share of your customers already do, you have a head start. If nobody at your business speaks it, start smaller: one translated page explaining your services and how to reach you can still help.

1Translate the pages that matter

You don’t need to translate everything on day one. Start with the pages that do the most work: your homepage, your main services, and your contact or booking page. Add more once you see how people use them.

2Skip the translate button

CSA Research surveyed 8,709 shoppers in 29 countries. 76% prefer to buy with information in their own language, 40% never buy from websites in other languages, and 66% already use machine translation themselves. So a translate button on your site adds little: most browsers already offer one.

What they can’t get from their browser is a real page in their language that Google can show them. For words that represent your business, use a fluent speaker or a professional translator. An AI draft checked by a fluent reviewer can work well, as long as a real person signs off.

3Give each language its own pages

Google recommends a different address for each language version of a page, such as /ko/ for Korean or /fa/ for Persian, rather than switching the language with cookies or browser settings on one address. Link the versions to each other with hreflang tags, so Google can show the Korean page to someone searching in Korean.

Google also says to avoid redirecting people automatically based on the language it seems they speak. Add a clear language switcher instead, and let people choose.

4Get the details right

• Chinese comes in two scripts. Many Mandarin speakers from mainland China read Simplified characters, while many Cantonese speakers from Hong Kong read Traditional. Ask your customers which they prefer.
• Persian reads right to left. The layout needs to flip properly, not just the words.
• Punjabi in Canada is usually written in Gurmukhi. Check with your audience before you translate.
• Translate the whole page. Google warns that translating only the menus and buttons, while the main text stays in one language, makes a poor experience.

5Don’t forget Google

Google allows only one profile per business, so there’s no separate profile for each language. But you can mention the languages you speak in your description, reply to reviews in the language they were written in, and list languages on each staff member’s page. When someone asks for “a Korean-speaking physio in Coquitlam”, those details are what answer the question.

6Plan for upkeep

Every language version needs updating when your prices, hours or services change. Before you launch, decide who will keep each version current.

What I’d do first

1. Today: ask your last twenty customers, or your team, which languages they’d rather read in.
2. This week: pick one language you can serve, and have your homepage and main service page translated by a fluent person.
3. This month: publish them at their own addresses with hreflang tags and a language switcher, and add the language to your Google profile.

If you’re in the Tri-Cities and thinking about a second language, we’d be happy to talk it through. Have a look at the websites we build and what we do in Coquitlam and the Tri-Cities, or start with a free website check.