Have you ever asked a translation agency to provide you with a client reference or a test translation before you use their services? I am very sure you have, as in today´s translation industry there are millions of translation agencies offering you their services. How does one differentiate one agency from the other? Price is the most common driver; however, are you comparing apples to apples when comparing per word rates? Is the highest per word rate matching the best translation quality and the lowest per word cost the worst one? Obviously the scope of the translation project will play the most important role: do you need a small letter from your grandfather who lives overseas translated, or are you in need of a translation for a manual into Simplified Chinese as your company is trying to enter the Chinese Market?

It is always important to know exactly what translation process a translation agency is going through in order to provide you with a translation of your requested document. Many companies offer only translation and proofreading, and prospects believe that the translation quality will turn out great. There are many instances in which that is not the case. It is very important to have a second translator compare the translated text with the original text to see if any mistranslation took place, before the proofreading step can be executed.

How can you be sure that  you will receive a high quality translated document? Request a test or sample translation before you decide to use a certain provider.

I have a client who needs his company´s entire website translated and his selection process is quote tough. Which agency can he trust knowing that all the requested highly technical medical articles will be translated correctly?  Besides the detailed quote that we sent him, we offered him a sample translation of two different articles with over 6,000 words to translate – for free. Six thousand words sounds like a reasonable investment for a future potential 3,000,000 words scope. Why? It´s part of the confidence-building process between the prospect and us. Once he receives our test translations, he will be able to compare the quality with the offered cost per word and turnaround time and service that had been provided to him during the entire quotation and selection process.

Have you ever contacted a Translation Agency to get a quote for a translation project and the Account Manager started mentioning DTP costs besides the cost per word? What does DTP stand for and when is this Service actually necessary?

DTP stands for Desktop Publishing and it refers to the creation of documents using page layout software. Typically, this includes the combining and rearranging of text and imagery (in case there are any images) through computer software, using Fonts and Graphics of your choice, to produce documents such as Newsletters, Brochures, Manuals, Slide shows, Books, etc.

In today´s business world there are many different types of documents used, such as in the following formats: Word, Excel, Power point, Pdf, Adobe InDesign, Adobe FrameMaker, Adobe PageMaker, Adobe Illustrator, CorelDRAW, Corel Ventura, QuarkXPress and many more.

When a prospect contacts a Translation Agency to receive a quote for a certain document, any Account Manager typically will ask for the source file, which is the document in which the text had originally been created in. This is important, so that the document does not have to be recreated, which can be very expensive sometimes, depending obviously on the format used.

In a specific example: the prospect has a Manual of Industrial Machinery and would like that Manual translated from English into Latin American Spanish, as the prospect would like to penetrate the Latin American Market. The Manual itself is in an Adobe InDesign format. In order to keep the DTP cost as low as possible, and to assure that the translated Manual looks as similar as possible to the original English Manual, the prospect would have to send the Account Manager the source InDesign file/s, all Fonts and Links to the Images that are contained within the Manual.

There is no question that the Internet has brought people from around the globe closer (virtually) than ever before, but there are still quite a few barriers to be conquered when one is looking to market  software internationally. English is the unofficial “computer language” of the 21st century, but what if your menus and code were originally written in Mandarin? Or you have software in English but really want to attack the Japanese market? Translating your software is a surefire way to truly take your product global.

A software translation may seem like a daunting task, but I’ve compiled a list of 5 questions to ask before you give a translation agency your project.

1)Will the finished product be tested in-house?

2)Will the translation hinder customer functionality in any way?

3) How will layout and design be affected? This is especially important when translating software into or out of the Roman alphabet.

4)Will the software be globalized, localized, internationalized?

5)Will the translation include things like software manuals, license agreements, warranty agreements and disclaimers?

The final step in this series is on the most crucial step for any aspiring translator- finding translation jobs. You basically have two options here, you work freelance or are on staff at a translation agency. In this post, we will go over some of the pros and cons of these two paths.

Translation Agency

The translation agency serves as the liaison between you and the client. You can choose to work either as a contact for them, meaning they will offer you projects, or you can work in house, which provides you with many more opportunities, but greater responsibility and a set work schedule. Most translation companies will give you a test before you begin and then put you into a database of translators for your language pair or pairs. If you do well on your projects, you should receive more in the future. If you do poorly, then you may be erased from the database forever. You can find translation agencies by searching online and then sending them a professional cover letter and resume.

Freelance Translator

This is what I assume most translators aspire to. The freedom to set your own hours, work from wherever you like, set your own rates, etc. But this goal is no walk in the park and is usually preceded by years of searching for clients, marketing yourself relentlessly and learning the business side of translating. You must first find your  clients, then work steadily to establish and nurture these relationships. It can be a very satisfying and very taxing career choice.

Cheap and fast are the first two words that go through most people’s minds when they start looking for a translation agency. But when they read over the first translation that they had done based solely on those two criteria, they’ll probably rethink the whole idea and realize that “quality” was actually what they were looking for. This is a little guide on how to avoid these situations when selecting who is going to do your English or Spanish translation.

Quality translations can be cheap and they can have good turnaround times, no doubt about it. The trick is finding these translation companies. There are essentially two key factors that will give you a top-notch translation: the skills of the translators and the translation process used at the company.

Try and find out how the company chooses its translation team and see if they have native English and Spanish speakers on staff. See if they have specialists in the medical, legal, engineering or whatever field you need. A lot of translation projects are doomed before they get started because an uncle’s friend is “fluent” and is asked to take the job instead of a professional translation agency.

A good translation is not a one-step process. Ideally, you will have native speakers translating, editing and proofreading your document or project. Read over the company’s process and see how they do things. If the company hasn’t listed this information on it’s company website, move on to the next.

There’s no getting around the price. It is extremely important. And the best translation companies do offer low price translations because they know what they’re doing and have the best translators following a quality translation process. So do a little homework on the English and Spanish translation company and you will see the results pay off ten-fold.