Hehe... My first end user reply: pretty embarrassing

[tristanperry]

Hey all,
I own the domain "Toej.com", and Toej = tøj (clothes in Danish). As such, I recently approached quite a few large Danish clothing companies with my sales pitch. Unfortunately, I decided to (in my ignorant wisdom ) use an online translator to translate from English to Danish. However I made sure to include the English translation below it, just in-case.

Anyway, a company e-mailed back... In English:

No thanks.

And by the way, never use translator.
No one can read and understand that translation. lol

Pretty embarrassing? :hehe: It's all a learning curve, I guess. Still, being laughed at by an end user (who, judging from the e-mail, seems to have shown my e-mail to many of his staff) isn't a great sign :P

Thoughts?! And does anyone have any suggestions how to cheaply contact end users whose primary language isn't English?
Thanks,
Tristan

 

[gazzip]

Thoughts?! And does anyone have any suggestions how to cheaply contact end users whose primary language isn't English?

:lol: was it babelfish ?

I would first ask if someone here at NamePros could speak the native language and help you out to form your emails, I would think someone would help you out with it.

Other than that, if it is in Europe, just send it in English as its a common language in larger businesses.


.

 

[tristanperry]

Lol! It wasn't babelfish, although it was a translator which appears to be of the same sort of quality.. InterTran! I run the translation back through it (Danish -> English), and it seriously doesn't make any sense :P "Domain" is translated as "Field" Heh, this isn't good. I have a potentially valuable name to Danes, but am now black-listed as a loony, probably!

Yeah I think that asking around at NamePros probably is the best advice, thanks I'm sure that a small e-mail (i.e. a few paragraphs) shouldn't be too much bother to translate - heck, I'd pay a bit for it (however most online translators charge low-mid xx which is a bit too much IMHO).

 

[mirrorcube]

You get an "A" for effort and an "F" for translation. Either way i think your ambition for selling your domains will pay off sometime. Good luck.

 

[tristanperry]

Thanks for the A And I'll be sure to be more careful with translations in the future, thanks!

 

[Lasher]

You did better than me, my first ever end user response was "F**k off, spammer!"

 

[tristanperry]

Heh, not too good! I guess it wasn't too bad of a response - I mean, I PMed rubbish to a Danish clothes company, and they still replied nicely!

 

[RegFee]

You did better than me, my first ever end user response was "F**k off, spammer!"

Ha! At least you've gotten a response. I have a feeling Spambots around the world are preset to delete email from addresses containing the name "Jorge" or "Regfee". Oh well, thank goodness for Afternic & Sedo.

 

[unholy1]

Lol! It wasn't babelfish, although it was a translator which appears to be of the same sort of quality.. InterTran! I run the translation back through it (Danish -> English), and it seriously doesn't make any sense :P "Domain" is translated as "Field" Heh, this isn't good. I have a potentially valuable name to Danes, but am now black-listed as a loony, probably!

Yeah I think that asking around at NamePros probably is the best advice, thanks I'm sure that a small e-mail (i.e. a few paragraphs) shouldn't be too much bother to translate - heck, I'd pay a bit for it (however most online translators charge low-mid xx which is a bit too much IMHO).

LOL...Nice experience...

Personally though, I would rather pay for the Translation services as you come out as more Professional and more likely to get a better response.

I have quite a lot of my sites translated in other languages for SEO value and to avoid duplication of content.
For the smaller sites which only serve to power the money sites I just use any online translator, for major work I normally head over to Scriptlance or Rentacoder to get the job done.

Point is if you want it done right, hire a Pro, the little extra you pay for, may in the end become a bigger sale for you.

 

[Michelle]

You did better than me, my first ever end user response was "F**k off, spammer!"

Haha :yell:

 

[mr-x]

Hey all,
I own the domain "Toej.com", and Toej = tøj (clothes in Danish). ...

Thoughts?! And does anyone have any suggestions how to cheaply contact end users whose primary language isn't English?
Thanks,
Tristan

Have you considered running an advertisement in a trade magazine with a website? I'm sure the editor would help you with an efective translation.

 

[Steven]

It's always good to try than never try at all

 

[poiuytrewq]

I did a mailshot many years ago and needed some German. I don't speak it so I paid a language student. She did a great job and students are prepared to work for peanuts!

So maybe check out some langauge students forums? Just a thought.

 

[ilcesco]

I'd say write straight in english. all the rest of europe can speak english, especially if you are aiming your efforts at mid-large size companies..

 

[tristanperry]

Thanks for the comments all I would say that I agree that it's better to pay for a translation - I'll remember this in the future!

And whilst I agree with ilcesco in that much of Europe speaks English (at the very least better than I speak their languages :P), I'm thinking that sending out an English e-mail to an officially non-English speaking country may be taken as a bit rude? Am I right in saying this?

 

[GreenGambler]

I would say unless you find someone to read the translation and make sure it is correct than just go with English.. IMO

Good job on contacing people..

 

[.X.]

I would say unless you find someone to read the translation and make sure it is correct than just go with English.. IMO

Good job on contacing people..

Yep..me too, i send them in english, I sent one to a chinese company once, Got a return email with, ???? ?? ?????? ??????? ..... I was like, Ummmmmmmm K,

 

[iNod]

To contact somebody from another part of the world in English is rather rude.. However they usually can speak English .. Or atleast part of it.

If you take the time to find somebody to translate it and try really hard it will show that you are determined to communication with them and they will probably reply with English. I have done this before and every time I get a thank you for translating it into their language.

Also, they may know English but not all so you could lose a sale simplely to the mis-translation of a word.

- Steve

 

[verbster]

Google works pretty well for sme languages.
http://www.google.com/language_tools

 

[IAmAllanShore]

Pay a translator if you think it is worth it at all to contact these companies - nothing turns me off from a sale faster than contemplating all of the technical difficulties that are going to arise from misunderstandings due to language.
-Allan