Multilingual website presents Canton Zug to the whole world

Thanks to a multilingual website, the canton of Zug can address target groups from a wide range of countries.FROM ROMAN PROBST*What if all of a sudden "kućni ljubimci" want to immigrate to Switzerland? Do they then need a special asylum procedure? Hardly. "Kućni ljubimci" is Croatian and means nothing other than "pets". Many an immigrant or tourist who does not yet speak a Swiss national language has a similar experience at the beginning of his stay in Switzerland: he only understands the train station. opened its portal to the world: on the one hand, to establish a first linguistic contact with its new fellow citizens, but also to welcome the tourists.International and multilingualWhether through modern communication or the modern world of work, the entire earth is becoming a village in which international and multilingual coexistence prevails. Certain political circles see this as a threat. Not so the canton of Zug: The idea of the multilingual website is a door opener to the foreign-speaking population, with which the access to the Swiss society is to be facilitated, explains Landammann Beat Villiger in an interview with the Neue Luzerner Zeitung.However, the multilingual website does not only serve the integration, but also the location marketing: With the multilingualism - in particular with languages such as Arabic, Chinese or Japanese - the government council also wants to reach more distant regions. In this way, it will be easier to attract international companies to the canton.Cost expenditure kept within limitsWith 14 language versions of a website, the thought of high costs quickly arises. But this was kept within limits: the canton of Zug invested around 2,500 francs per language version, not least thanks to the direct integration of the translations into the content management system of the Zug web portal. Translation-Probst AG not only translated our website reliably, accurately and quickly, but thanks to their technical expertise they also entered all the texts into our CMS. Translation-Probst AG thus saved us a lot of effort," explains Marilena Amato Mengis, the deputy communications officer for the Canton of Zug. With the direct translation into the CMS, the Canton of Zug was able to avoid additional formatting and design work.14 languages equal 14 hurdles?Multilingualism is synonymous with cultural diversity. For this reason, the content of translations is not transferred word for word from the source language into the target language; the translations should rather establish the cultural and semantic reference to the target group. Especially in the case of idioms or proverbs, it is important to find an equivalent in the target language. Translation-Probst AG achieves this, on the one hand, with native-speaker translators who guarantee the optimal transfer of the content from the source language to the target language. On the other hand, with a team of professors and university lecturers in the respective target language, who set about proofreading the translations after the translation process in order to guarantee the highest quality.Terminology list recommendedThe content of websites changes rapidly, so translations have to be revised again and again. For this reason, Translation-Probst AG recommends a terminology list for translation projects such as that of the Canton of Zug. This ensures that future translations and texts use the same terms, which minimizes the translation effort, ensures linguistic consistency and increases recognition value. A terminology list of this kind is not only important for international companies, but also for public authorities: technical terms from official or legal language in particular require stringent handling so that communication is not impaired or distorted.--Interview with Dr. Marc Höchli, Communications Officer of the Government Council and the Canton of Zug

What is the challenge of communicating as a public authority?MARC HOECHLI The communication of a canton is very demanding. After all, different target groups have to be reached, such as residents, companies, political groups and tourists. The communication of an authority must therefore combine different goals. On the one hand, classic information and interactive communication, and on the other, so-called "image advertising". Our principle is always: We inform and communicate openly and honestly! Nothing is glossed over or swept under the carpet.What was the reaction to the fact that Zug now has a diverse language presence?HOECHLI The response was very positive across the board. Various media have portrayed the canton of Zug as an example of a "customer-friendly" authority. And the reactions of the local as well as foreign population were also good. "Çok iyi", "amazing", "mucho beneficioso" or "excellent" were the words of praise for the foreign-language website. Of course, we are very pleased about this. However, we did not realize the foreign language Internet pages simply as an end in itself. We are primarily interested in the broadest possible participation of the population. After all, the canton of Zug is home to people from over 120 nations. With our 14 languages on the Internet, we can address and inform the very largest proportion directly.And how do colleagues in other municipalities and cantons react?HOECHLI We have received only good feedback. It is striking that many are surprised that you can achieve a lot with little personnel and financial effort. And institutions, such as integration and immigration offices, are also pleased with our foreign-language websites.* Roman Probst is a graduate communicator FH, CEO of Translation-Probst AG. His company is the only translation agency in Switzerland to have been awarded the CTI label by the Swiss government.