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I'm creating a website that is a kind of search engine of registered customers. Out of three offered languages, the customers can choose a default one, just like the visitors.
When a visitor visits a profile of a registered customer, the employer wants the language of the entire website's interface to be changed to a customer's language.
What would be the advantages and disadvantages of this idea?
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Reaching a larger audience First and foremost, a multi-language website will help you expand your reach and make contact with a much wider audience. With only 25% of internet users being native English speakers, it's high time to start catering to the other 75% and being sensitive to their needs.
A translated website means more people on your website which, therefore, means a greater awareness of your brand. A multilingual business website will attract people from around the world who will start to associate you with a certain product or service. Doing so will differentiate you from the competition.
Google Translate It is by far the easiest and more common way to add multiple language support to your website. To add Google Translate to your site, you simply sign up for an account and then paste a small bit of code to the HTML.
It's a really bad idea to guess at a language preference regardless of where the data comes from.
As a general rule the viewer's language preference should take priority. If you don't respect this rule, at best you'll annoy a viewer who has to work harder to understand something. At worst you'll make your site completely un-usable for that person.
There really aren't pro's to letting a system decision, or other data setting determine a language, especially when it impacts the entire interface. Instead, you should provide a consistent option (header or footer) to change localization settings AND respect that for at least the entire session.
As a side note: This sounds like a request based on perceived problems and solutions. I would dig to find the real problem and then brainstorm other solutions that don't involve forced language changes. I would also talk to users and get real data. Don't let the business dictate how users want to interact.
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