Hints for Outsourcers

von Korina

If your company needs documents translated into other languages on an ongoing or occasional basis you will require the help of language professionals, either freelance translators or an agency. This article describes how to find the right expert.

No matter how small or big your business might be – due to the increasing globalisation and internationalisation of almost all markets, at some point you may find your self in a situation where you need a certain document (be it a contract, a manual, business correspondence or your website) translated into another language.

First, you will need to decide whether you are going to use the services of a translation agency or of an individual freelance translator. This decision is mainly based on the size of your translation project. Basically, translation agencies take over all the responsibilities of a project manager. They have the appropriate translators working in-house for them or can get in contact with translators specialized for your requirements. Furthermore, a good translation agency can handle all the work that is related to the production of the final product (i.e. layout, printing, copying etc.). It will have specialized translators for your needs and also proofreaders to approve the quality of your documents.

Therefore, you will contact a translation agency when a large document needs to be translated into one or more languages and when the amount of words to be translated exceeds the amount of words one translator could handle in a reasonable period of time. For all the other cases directly contacting a freelance translator will be more suitable.

Second, it is very important for the final result, i.e. the quality of the translation, to bear a view things in mind. Most importantly: You will get what you pay for! This is a very simple rule but its relevance is often underestimated. To put it into other words: You can easily search the market and find translators who will do the job for a fraction of the amount which your local translator or translation agency would charge you. But it is essential to compare the offers you will get, meaning that you should not only compare prices but also qualifications, references, years and areas of experience.

I do not need to explain here why these discrepancies exist, however, I would like to say it once again. If you expect an appropriate translation of your document(s) you will have to pay an appropriate price. But apart from financial considerations what should you look for in a translator or agency you want to work with? Check their background, specializations and recommendations. This can easily be done on the babelport.com website.

If you want to contract a translator it might be advisable to let him/her take a (short – not more than 250 words) test in order to be able to judge his/her qualification for the job. Also keep in mind that a translator should not have to translate more than 2500 to 3000 words a day in order to have enough time to proofread the translation and do terminological work.

When you additionally provide concrete information about layout, terminology, terms of delivery (how and when) and terms of payment and are willing to assist the translator in providing any requested information, the translation you will receive will reflect the professionalism of your business to the highest level. In order to avoid additional complications try contacting a translator/agency near you.

In summary, when you have a smaller translation project you will best contact a translator directly whereas you would rather contact an agency when you have larger projects or long-time projects with multilingual translations. Furthermore, keep in mind that you always get what you pay for. Money is probably one of the most important factors which determine the quality of the translation you will receive. In addition, you should review the translator/agency to which you assign the job thoroughly.