By KYN AI Advisory Team — AI implementation specialists, Singapore
Translate pages whose content is the same in every market: product specifications, how-to steps, definitions. Rewrite pages where the buyer's question, the law, the currency or the examples differ. Tax, employment, data protection and pricing pages almost always need a rewrite. Whichever you choose, a native reader approves the result before it goes live.
What is the difference between translating and rewriting?
Translation carries the same meaning into another language. Rewriting starts from the local reader's question and writes a new page, using the English page as source material.
A translated page about Singapore GST is still about Singapore GST. A Bahasa Indonesia reader in Jakarta wants PPN, filed through the Indonesian tax authority. Translating the first does not answer the second. That page is a rewrite.
Which pages should you translate and which rewrite?
| Page type | Approach | Reason | |---|---|---| | Product or service description | Translate, then review | Same offer, same facts | | How-to steps with no legal content | Translate, then review | Steps do not change by language | | Definitions and glossaries | Translate, with local terms added | Terms differ, concepts match | | Pricing | Rewrite | Currency, tax and local competitors differ | | Tax, payroll, filings | Rewrite from the local authority's pages | Rules differ by country | | Data protection and privacy | Rewrite | Each market has its own law and regulator | | Case examples | Rewrite | Local scale and industry matter | | Legal pages and terms | Have a local lawyer prepare them | Liability | | Blog answers to buyer questions | Rewrite from the local search query | The question itself differs |
Where a page cites a law or rate, the rewrite cites the local regulator: IRAS for Singapore, the Hong Kong IRD, DJP for Indonesia, LHDN for Malaysia.
How do Chinese variants differ?
Chinese is not one choice. Simplified Chinese serves mainland China and Singapore; Traditional serves Hong Kong and Taiwan. Vocabulary differs as well: a Hong Kong reader and a Singapore reader may use different words for the same thing, and Hong Kong readers may expect Cantonese-flavoured terms in spoken content. Decide the reader first, then the script.
For Bahasa, Indonesian and Malaysian Malay are related but not the same. They differ in vocabulary and in business terms. Do not reuse one for the other.
How do you tell search engines which version is which?
Use separate URLs for each language and mark the relationships with hreflang annotations. Google documents the method in its guide to localized versions. Each page lists itself and all alternates, and the tags must be reciprocal. Do not auto-redirect visitors by browser language, since that can block both users and crawlers from other versions.
Our guide on trilingual websites with hreflang covers the setup in detail.
What is the workflow?
- Classify each English page using the table above.
- For translations, an agent drafts the translation, keeping numbers, names and links unchanged. A script checks that every number and URL in the source appears in the output.
- For rewrites, the brief starts from the local search question and the local authority's page. The English article is a reference, not a template.
- A native reader reviews. They check terms, tone and whether the page sounds like a person in that market wrote it.
- A glossary is kept. One list of approved terms per language, such as how you render "reconciliation" or "retainer", so pages stay consistent.
- Publish with hreflang and add the page to the sitemap.
A model translates well enough for a first draft. It makes errors in industry terms, honorifics and register. That is why step 4 is not optional.
What does review cost and what does it catch?
Native review of a 1,500-word page takes roughly 30 to 60 minutes, depending on how clean the draft is. It catches mistranslated technical terms, a register that is too stiff or too casual, and rules copied from the wrong country. The glossary reduces this over time, because the same corrections stop recurring.
What about WhatsApp and chat replies?
The same rule applies. A reply to an Indonesian customer should be written in the way an Indonesian business writes, not translated from an English template. Keep a small set of approved phrases per language and let a person approve anything new.
What does a glossary entry look like?
A glossary prevents the same term being rendered three ways across a site. Keep one row per term per language.
| English | Bahasa Indonesia | Chinese (Simplified) | Note | |---|---|---|---| | Bank reconciliation | Rekonsiliasi bank | 银行对账 | Confirm with the finance reviewer | | Retainer | Biaya berlangganan bulanan | 月度服务费 | Avoid the legal sense of "retainer" | | Row-level security | Keamanan tingkat baris | 行级安全 | Keep the English term in brackets on first use | | Approval | Persetujuan | 审批 | Used for named-person sign-off |
The entries are illustrative and need a native reviewer to confirm for your sector. The value of the list is consistency. When the reviewer corrects a term once, every later page uses the corrected term.
What does a number check catch?
A script that compares numbers and links between the English source and the translation catches the most expensive errors.
- A price that lost a digit.
- A date that changed format, such as day-month swapped with month-day.
- A link that points to the English page when a local one exists.
- A percentage that was rounded in translation.
The script lists every number and URL in the source, then confirms each appears in the output. A failed match goes to the reviewer with both lines side by side. It takes seconds to run and removes a class of errors that a reader would not spot.
What do you do with the existing English articles?
Do not retire or redirect them. The English page keeps its address and its history. Add the translated or rewritten page at its own URL and link the two with hreflang. If the local page is a rewrite, it may rank for different queries from the English one, and that is the intended result.
How do you measure whether a local page works?
Use Search Console with a filter for the page's country and language. Track impressions, clicks and the queries that appear. A rewrite should earn queries in the local language within a few months. If it earns none, the page may duplicate the English structure and ignore the local phrasing. Compare the headings with the queries people in that market type, and revise.
Where KYN fits
KYN builds bilingual and trilingual interfaces and sites from the start, with Bahasa Indonesia and Chinese as first-class languages rather than later additions. Translation drafts and number checks run in an agent with a restricted account. Publishing waits for a named reviewer, and every action is logged with the actor. The system runs in a cloud account in your name.
The first 14 days are a review of your stack and interviews with your team. A full build ships in under 90 days. See marketing and integrations.
Frequently asked questions
Is machine translation good enough to publish?
For a first draft, usually. For publication, no. A native reader should review it, because errors in terms and tone are the ones a buyer notices.
Do I need separate pages for Indonesia and Malaysia?
Yes, if you serve both. The languages are related but differ, and the law, tax and currency differ by country.
Will translated pages count as duplicate content?
Google treats translated pages as different content when each language has its own URL. Use hreflang so the right version reaches the right reader.
Checked 30 October 2026.
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