The sea of
translation company services available may even confuse the experts, when trying
to make a wise choice. Well, first of all you should sum up your individual expectations and define
the type of work you need at the end of the day. Of course budget limitations would also be a main
consideration, yet you should not fall into the trap of choosing a ridiculously cheap service
because it would usually be reflected in the poor quality of the work. Anyhow, before voting for
any kind of translation company, it is strongly advised to do your homework and find out whether
the service provided is in correlation with your needs.
No matter what type of translation your quest entails, a wide variety of language
translation services is a good initial sign that might imply the competence of the
translation company. Most translation companies would be keen on including at
least the following popular language combinations: Chinese-English translation, American
English-Spanish translation, Russian – English, Arabic-English, Portuguese-English, French- English
translations and the list could go on. The
translation company should have a basic background in the industry the translation
is involved in. This would ensure that the vocabulary used would be familiar to the target
readership. A decent translation company’s profile should spell out such information on their
website or in their information booklet. At the same time, they should be able to understand and
implement company phrases, special terminology and even play-on-words that you might want to see
reflected in the translation.
In the electronic age we are living in, it is standard requirement that the
translation company involved would have access to the Internet with file-sending capabilities via
E-mail or other electronic facility. Besides easy transportation of the work the translation
company should also consider appointing a contact person to the given project, who would keep you
updated at all times.
Another important matter to consider is the professional background and approach of
the translators. Was there a selection criteria for the translators hired at the translation
company? Is a second translator proofreading the target text? In addition, a crucial element, that
translation services are starting to comprehend nowadays, is the need to employ translators, who
are native speakers of the target language – or at least have been living in the destination market
long enough – and at the same time have full command of the source language. Such thorough
background work might seem like a hassle in the beginning, but will certainly save you from lots of
headaches when negotiating expected quality and price-range.
If the quality of the result is significantly important to you, do take the time to
double-check the work completed! If you have knowledge in the target language you could
personally examine the text to make sure that no important subject matter was overlooked.
Furthermore, a professional way of detecting errors or omissions in the text is by doing a
so-called ‘back-translation’ i.e. getting the text re-translated to the original language, by
another
translation company. One could argue that this is not a very cost-effective
method. Well, "if you pay for peanuts – you get monkeys!". Remember, a poor translation can
seriously harm you and your company’s image, while a polished, accurate one could make all the
difference in today’s foreign language-oriented international world.
