I have a database driven website. Registered users are supposed to list their products in English. In order to make the site available in Chinese, we asked an agency to translate all the static information such as labels, help files, alerts, messages and other notifications etc , which they did. The issue is with the database. Do I need to buy some kind of software to translate the listing upon search/request? The database is too huge and is ever increasing. Naturally getting it translated by some agency is not an option for me. I have seen many sites such as Alibaba, Trade Key, etc. They do have multilingual websites. How do they resolve this issue? Any help will be highly appreciated!
If your database is getting larger, hiring an agency to translate will not work for you. You need to translate the data as it is entered into the database, ideally with a program which may or may not be available in your field. If I were doing it, I would write a program that would do two things. First, translate and save all new data as it is being entered. Second, to verify that when the database is accessed that the accessed data has already been translated. If not, then translate and save. However, writing a translation program is not for the faint of heart. And due to the many nuances of meanings, many translations would not be the best translations available.
Is your database running on Oracle then drop me a pm i will let you know how to handle the situation without spending a penny.
Personally i dont suggest you use those software, it is not seo friendly. It will be better if you can get a translator to translate them manually. Another reason is that software translation is not give you the correct meaning sometime.