How to Translate 1688 App and Taobao to English

Both 1688 and Taobao marketplaces were originally built for local Chinese trade, yet they’ve equally drawn buyers from all over the world. Paradoxically, their design still seems to discourage trade between Chinese manufacturers and international users.

There are obvious barriers, even on the latest version of the 1688 app. The app is partly in English, but the most significant areas, such as product descriptions, product prices, and supplier information, are all in Chinese. The clickable content on the homepage is in English, but the content on product pages that actually influence buying decisions remains in Chinese.

Product prices, which should ideally switch currencies—as is the standard globally—do not switch on 1688. They remain in yuan, the Chinese currency.

The Taobao app isn’t much different from the 1688 app; in fact, it’s worse. There’s almost no English text on the app, making it nearly impossible to sign up.

Despite these challenges, buyers from around the world find ways to shop on 1688 and Taobao for two key reasons: the wide range of products and the low cost of goods. Foreign buyers often shop on 1688 and Taobao using translation tools that either slow down the shopping experience or lose context in translation. This leads them to abandon the process or risk ordering the wrong items.

The Challenges of Translating 1688 and Taobao

The two main ways 1688 and Taobao can be translated are by using Google Translate or similar translator tools and by relying on automatic translation features provided by external apps. Both are unreliable and contribute largely to the following barriers that discourage businesses from buying from China.

Slow Shopping Process

It takes significantly longer to source on 1688 and Taobao using Google Translate. It’s usually double the average time it takes on other marketplaces. It took me almost an hour the first time I tried to purchase a watch on 1688.

A huge part of the time wasted was spent taking several screenshots of product pages to translate with Google Translate, one after the other. I ended up abandoning the process and shopping elsewhere.

For any business owner, new or experienced, the experience is time-draining, broken, and is more likely to make them quit.

Loss of Context

Google Translate is mostly accurate, but it is also known to miss valuable context at times. Alternative translator apps suffer from the same fault. They are generally not built to understand how words are used on digital marketplaces. It’s why they often misinterpret single or double words used in product descriptions or on clickable buttons.

Misinterpretations in this business, no matter how little, can be costly. It leads to unresolved disputes between suppliers and buyers and irrevocable losses.

Poor Navigation

Both 1688 and Taobao web apps benefit from the automatic translation feature provided by web browsers, but it only makes things worse. The button layouts and menus are usually displaced or out of context. This makes navigating both platforms confusing when the automatic translation is turned on.

Alternatively, you can screenshot the navigation elements and translate with Google, but that leads back to the challenges mentioned earlier — a slow shopping process and the loss of context.

For years, these challenges have caused businesses to give up on importing goods from China through low-cost platforms such as 1688, Taobao, and Pinduoduo. It has also prevented potential business owners from exploring small business ideas, only made possible by affordable goods.

It’s why we launched Midddleman AI Translator, to effectively promote procurement via these sourcing platforms and help businesses save money in the process.

What’s Midddleman AI Translator?

Midddleman AI Translator is a new feature on the Midddleman App that enables you to translate product pages on 1688 and Taobao by simply copying and pasting the link to your product.

With only the click of a button, the AI Translator generates a replica of your 1688 page in English and displays its price in Naira. You can also ask the AI chatbot about a product, a supplier’s ratings, or your shipping costs and get answers in seconds.

The core purpose of the Midddleman AI Translator is to lower the language barriers in the trade process between Chinese suppliers and African businesses. It does this in two ways:

By retaining the shopping experience

The AI Translator retains some of the core functionalities of an online marketplace. You can browse 1688 products in English, view their prices in your local currency, save items, and add products to your cart.

Compared to Google Translate, it’s a significant improvement in translating and shopping concurrently.

By providing extra assistance

The integrated AI chatbot, similar to Chat GPT, provides extra assistance when you need it. You can ask questions about products, suppliers, and reviews, and get responses based on factual information available on a sourcing platform.

It also provides assistance beyond what’s available on a product’s description. You can ask the bot to calculate your shipping fee or to share feedback on your ideas.

How to Use the Midddleman AI Translator

The AI Translator can be used in multiple ways when shopping on 1688. Some of the main use cases include:

Translate a 1688 product page
Ask questions about a product
Ask questions about shipping costs
Verify supplier or product reviews
Save items to order later

Translate a 1688 Product Page to English

To translate a 1688 product page, simply copy the link to the page and paste it in the text field on the Midddleman app. And in only a few seconds, it will generate a replica of the page in English.

Ask about a Product

Simply paste the link to a 1688 product, and you can ask any questions about the product. For example, you can ask about its weight, dimensions, or the minimum order quantity.

Ask about the Shipping Costs

You can also inquire about the total cost of shipping a product to you, and the AI chatbot will provide an estimated cost based on available data, such as the size/weight of your product, your preferred delivery method, and the updated cost of shipping from China to your location.

Verify Reviews and Ratings

You can easily confirm the reviews made by other buyers on the 1688 app. Simply ask about the reviews of a product or the reviews of a supplier.

Save Items to Order Later

There’s a safe space for the products you don’t plan to purchase immediately. You can either add them to your wishlist or find them in history. As long as a product remains live on 1688, it will be accessible in its translated form in your history on the Midddleman app.

How to Get Started

To start translating the 1688 app or Taobao to English, download the Midddleman app on your mobile app store, then follow these steps to use the AI Translator:

Copy the link to a product on 1688 or Taobao.
Log in to your Midddleman app and select “Source Products” on the homepage.
Paste the link in the text field and click the send button.
In a few seconds, the AI Translator generates a replica of your 1688 page in English.

Or watch our explainer video to learn how to use the AI Translator feature. Watch the video here

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