When a client asks whether AI makes translation unnecessary
Agencies hear it on every multilingual quote now. Three questions to ask back, what to say about browsers and chatbots, and how to scope and quote the work.
By FluentC2 min read
You've scoped a Spanish and a French version of the site. The client says: can't people just use the translate button? Or ChatGPT?
They're not wrong that those exist. Here is how to answer without a slide deck.
Three questions to ask back
- Do you want to be found in Spanish, or only read in it? A translate button helps someone who has already found the English site. It gives search engines nothing in Spanish to show. If the client wants Spanish-speaking customers to arrive, there has to be a Spanish page for them to arrive at.
- Who gets to decide the words? With browser translation, nobody at the company sees what the visitor reads. Product names, prices, terms and the buy button are translated on the fly, differently each time. With a translated site, the words are the same for everyone and the client can read and change them.
- Who keeps it current? A chatbot translation is a snapshot. The site changes; the snapshot doesn't. Ask who will paste every edited paragraph into three languages, forever.
Most of the time the conversation ends at the first question.
What to say about the tools
Be straight: FluentC uses AI translation too. The difference isn't the translation. It's that FluentC publishes it: a page per language on its own address, hreflang set, a language switcher, translations saved, every line editable in a dashboard. The client isn't paying for words. They're paying for the words to exist on the web, under their name, and to stay current.
If the client wants to read it rather than hear it: browser translation vs a translated site and can ChatGPT translate my website?
How to scope it
- Which languages. Only the ones the client wants to be found in. The translate button covers the rest, and you can say so.
- Subdomain or country domain. The trade-off, in the client's terms: a subdomain is the simpler setup, a country domain is the stronger local signal and the bigger job.
- What gets reviewed. Agree which pages a fluent person reads before launch: navigation, names, prices, terms, forms. What to review first.
- What isn't translated. Legal pages valid in one language, code, part numbers. The skip comment.
- Who edits after launch. The client can, in the dashboard, without you.
How to quote it
FluentC is priced flat per site, per language, with no limit on pages or text. Current plans are on the pricing page. That keeps the quote simple: your setup fee, plus a line per language that you pass through or bundle. No per-word estimate, and no overage conversation when the client adds pages.
If the client isn't on WordPress, Domains works on any site with one snippet. If they are, the plugin keeps everything inside WordPress. Either way, our team can do the setup with you. More for agencies is on the agencies page.
