08 Apr How to choose a right translation company?

How to choose a right translation company?

Do you make any of these common mistakes while choosing the right translation company for your business? 8 out of 10 customers in our customer survey do. Here is how you can avoid these common mistakes.

Quality. Believe what you can see & verify not hear & read.

We haven’t seen a website for translation company that didn’t constantly use words as high quality. Now how do you determine whether the quality process being described and charged is also adhered to.

When it comes to quality its best to believe what you see and not what you hear. To think that only the biggest company in the world can drive quality is far from true and it is their size which acts as a gravitational pull & creates a psychological reassurance of standards, process & integrity. If a company says we have done a Quality Check. It should be able to produce a verifiable evidence of it.

A lot of times quote differences emanate coz when we give you a quote we include fees of both translator, QC editor and increased project management cost which an unscrupulous vendor may promise but not adhere to. So on paper it may seem that they are most cost efficient for that level of service. Insist on evidence clause and ensure compliance. Do not accept the reasoning of it being a trespass on internal business operation. If you’re paying for anything you have a right to have all versions.

Bursting the ‘Instant Free Quote’ bubble

A lot of clients just submit files and solicit quotes from different vendors all of whom talk of instant free quote. Some don’t even want to submit files and want vendors to quote so they can zero upon the lowest and proceed with it. This is what you should not do. Instant free quotes can be misleading as quotes have to be with reference to the document and a timeline.

The first & foremost thing important to you is the kind of translation service you want specific to your industry, delivery timeline, purpose of translation & it being in sync with target reader. A training manual when translated for plant mechanic, helpers, assistant in the operations would be qualitatively different in choice of words, terminology, sentence structuring than a training manual for middle management in sales of the same organization. Take another case where you just need a gist, then why should you pay up to get the whole document translated? A translation company should be able to understand what you wish and importantly customize their services promptly. And quotes should be compared not just on cost alone but with reference to the value & confidence that the service comes up with.

Local or Global ?

Do you know that most clients while looking for a vendor automatically look only for those in their city/ country? Keeping in mind the global nature of language translation services, there is absolutely no need to restrict yourself to your city or country/region. The only additional convenience a local city vendor may give you is that you can meet them in person. But do you even need that? Not really. More than 95% projects seldom ever require a meeting in person due to the online operation viability of the translation industry.

International credibility?

Sometimes you have to deal with local or foreign government bodies, global corporations, embassies, foreign universities, associations or reach out to your customer/ students/ employees etc. in a specific region. Does your content & translation has a global credibility that shall be acceptable to a foreign government/ corporations/local people. If this is your goal, you should ask for translators accredited by the national authority of that country / region. US government/ embassies have different norms than say Australia and likewise it varies from region to region.

Expertise

The field of expertise involved in translation and complexity of document has a say in computing the cost. Different translators specialize in different domains. A legal document translated by a non-legal translator may not be of acceptable quality and likewise a medical translation would require a translator to have an expertise of the said field. Now specialized translators charge higher than regular translators as they have added/ specialist skills to apply in the translation. A small shaky company would never pay attention to specialization and would get all sort of documents churned by same set of translators which can be disastrous as it would miss all important terminologies or would be compromised heavily. We suggest client should clearly specify if they need a specialist for that field of expertise and pay a premium wherever needed.

Big Agency or Small ?

Confused between huge companies churning fanciful complicated technologies &  process jargons bragging their size and small business whose leverage is low cost but everything else about them looks shaky? How do you evaluate their quality or understand if they’re right to handle your project? The one who charges the lowest or the one who charges highest? In both cases you have no idea of what kind of quality, customer service, reliability to expect and would it match the credible & experienced service levels of a professionally managed company?

Big companies are at the top of the game in their size, large offices, several global branches, huge number of employees. But does it add any value to the service they are offering? Big companies are handy only when your project is extraordinarily huge. For anything that is under that, the size of a company is irrelevant. What you should not be is overwhelmed into submission that a big company is possibly the best like some clients end up assuming. On the other hand small & new companies often lack the experience & expertise and are best when dealing with small low risk assignments. When a marriage of cutting edge quality & cost whipped with simplicity & ease to deal with are considerations, it is usually the companies in growing & expansion stage that try to push hard to give you more efficiency for every cent of your money in the hope of winning your future business and partnership. More than the size of the company, more efficiency in their verticals and processes should be what you should be looking at. In retrospect Size doesn’t matter. Efficiency does.

ISO certification? Does it counts?

Yes, if a company adheres to ISO certified/ complaint process or other global standards of the industry, it means they have been audited about their processes and are going to be compliant about quality standards. However, when in doubt please do ask to have a look at their certificates and Quality Manuals. If they have any other similar certification, please do ask to have a look at them too. Don’t ever think it would come across impolite or apprehensive. Business decisions should not be made on hearsay.

Native / Non-Native Translators?

Translation performed by a native translator is usually higher in quality and in cost vis-à-vis a translation by a non-native translator. Wage rates and living costs are proportionately quite higher in first world countries than third world countries. So it is possible for those translators (mostly non-native) in third world countries to offer their services at cheaper rates.  If a company claims to offer native translator and charges significantly less than acceptable wage rates of that country, then it is possibly hiring a non-native translator. If your project is of low-risk value and more cost sensitive, a non-native translator may make a suitable choice. If vice versa is the case, we suggest that you consider only native translators.