A Smarter Path to Global Growth: Website Localization Meets Machine Translation

Summary

Q: Why is website localization important for global businesses?

A: Website localization ensures content resonates across languages and cultures, helping companies connect with local audiences, protect brand voice, and expand into international markets.

Q: How does Machine Translation (MT) improve website localization?

A: MT speeds up multilingual publishing by training engines on brand content, reducing costs, improving quality, and scaling website localization across many markets.

Q: What was the key outcome of this MT program?

A: The client achieved scalable website localization with faster turnaround, significant cost savings, and brand-consistent translations validated by in-country reviewers.

This blog is part of a LanguageLine series where our Solutions Architects share real-world insights from client implementations, platform evaluations, and technical research.

A Website Localization Request That Became a Scalable Machine Translation Strategy

When a global business came to us wanting to localize their newly migrated WordPress site, it looked like a pretty standard project at first glance. But once we dug deeper, we uncovered a content thicket: thousands of pages across more than 10 languages, with wildly different content types that each needed their own approach.

Some pages were basic technical documentation, the kind of content that translates cleanly. But mixed in were high-stakes marketing pages that needed careful, culturally-aware human translation to actually connect with local audiences.

The challenge wasn’t just linguistic. It was logistical. The client needed a solution that was flexible, efficient, budget-aware, and easy to manage across teams, from developers to in-country reviewers.

The client's budget was substantial, but not large enough to support fully human translation for every asset across every language. Our job was to help them localize more content, in more languages, without sacrificing quality or control. This called for a strategic program.

Enter the MT Program: Customization Meets Continuous Improvement

We introduced the client to LanguageLine's Machine Translation Program, a scalable approach that transforms raw MT output by training it on client-specific content and terminology.

This wasn't about deploying generic machine translation and hoping for the best. It was about systematically improving output quality over time using three strategic components:

1. Golden Dataset: We curated a collection of the client's best human translations to serve as the quality benchmark. This became our North Star for evaluating and improving MT performance across all languages.
2. Client-Specific Terminology: We built a validated glossary that locked in brand voice, tone, and industry-specific terms. No more generic translations that lost the client's carefully crafted messaging.
3. Engine Selection & Customization: We tested multiple MT engines to find the best baseline performer for each language pair. Then we trained the winning engines using the client's actual content, fine-tuning for their specific style, phrasing patterns, and terminology preferences.

The payoff was significant: MT output that sounded authentically human, stayed true to the client's brand voice, and required minimal post-editing. The result was faster turnaround times and substantial cost savings that compounded over the long term.

Building Trust: Letting the Client Validate Quality

We knew that even the best-performing MT wouldn't succeed without buy-in from the people who truly knew the brand. That's why we brought the client's internal reviewers directly into the workflow through our In-Country Review (ICR) platform. Their language experts could preview, edit, and approve translated content before it went live, maintaining the final say on quality.

This wasn't just about quality control. The ICR platform created a feedback loop that made our MT engines smarter with every review cycle. When reviewers made corrections or suggestions, that data fed back into the system, continuously refining the MT output for future projects. The result was a program that got better over time while keeping the client's team in complete control.

Seamless Integration with WordPress

The client's recent WordPress migration actually worked in our favor. We were able to integrate seamlessly using the WPML plugin and a secure API connection, making the whole process feel native to their existing workflow.

Once connected, their team could submit pages for translation without ever leaving WordPress. They could track progress in real-time and pull completed translations back into the site with just a few clicks. No file exports, no email chains, no manual handoffs between systems.

This streamlined setup meant their developers and content managers could handle localization as part of their normal routine, rather than treating it as a separate project that required special coordination or technical workarounds.

A Smart Workflow, Designed for Control and Scale

Here's how the entire process flowed from start to finish:

• Submission: Developers could push pages for translation directly from WordPress using our connector, eliminating the usual export-translate-import cycle.
• Smart Routing: Each batch of content was automatically assessed and routed to the right approach based on content type. Technical documentation might go straight to machine translation, while marketing copy got assigned to post-edited MT or full human translation.
• Transparent Pricing: Before any work began, we ran a Translation Memory analysis and provided a detailed quote, so everyone knew exactly what they were getting and what it would cost.
• Client Control: Internal reviewers used the ICR platform to preview and approve translations before anything made its way back to the CMS. No surprises, no content going live without their sign-off.
• Final Polish: Once translations were pushed back to WordPress, our linguists performed an in-context review in the staging environment to catch any layout issues or formatting problems that only show up when content is actually live on the page.

The whole system was built around giving everyone the right level of control at the right moment, while keeping the process moving efficiently from submission to publication.

The Outcome: A Flexible, Feedback-Driven MT Program That Works

Since launching the program, the transformation has been significant. The client streamlined their entire content workflow, cutting out the manual file management that used to slow everything down.

• Cost efficiency: They're spending considerably less on localization by deploying MT strategically where it makes sense, while still maintaining human translation for their most critical content.
• Quality improvements: By training the MT engines on their own approved content, translations started sounding more like their brand from the get-go.
• Brand control: Their internal reviewers now have real oversight of what goes live in each market, protecting brand integrity without becoming a bottleneck in the process.
• Built to scale: Most importantly, they created a workflow that actually grows with their business. As they add new markets or content types, the system adapts rather than breaking down.

What started as a straightforward CMS migration support request evolved into a comprehensive MT strategy that proves you don't have to choose between automation and quality, or between speed and control.

Ready to Build Your Own MT Program?

We don't just handle translations. We architect solutions that actually work for how your team operates. That might mean training MT engines on your specific content, walking you through a complex migration, or building review workflows that fit your approval process. We bring both deep technical expertise and big-picture thinking to every project.

Platform flexibility matters. We're not tied to any single technology, which means we can work with your existing setup whether you're running WordPress, Sitecore, Drupal, or something completely custom. Your CMS choice doesn't limit your localization options.

If you're dealing with localization at scale or trying to find the sweet spot between MT efficiency and human oversight, let's talk. We'll help you design a process that delivers the speed you need, the quality you expect, and the control you want to maintain.

Contact your Business Account Manager today or email us at translation@languageline.com

Amr Kassem is a Solutions Architect for LanguageLine Solutions.