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Need to find a reliable, fast, top quality translation service?

By Wolf Krammel

Republish: EasyPublish™ Published: 19Jan2010 Word count: 561 Viewed: 266 time(s) Get Free Content For Your Site

As translation needs increase throughout the world, new players are entering the translation market from many countries and in all sorts of shapes and sizes....In this "jungle", how can you choose a really reliable translation provider?

Here are a few key parameters you should look for:

A translation company that ONLY works with professional translators: professional translators are translators who have a translation degree and have a minimum of 5 years experience. Mastery of a second language does not make someone a good translator. As a matter of fact, a professional translator usually specializes in a given field (medical translation, pharmaceutical translation, legal translation, marketing translation, humanitarian translation, technical translation, machinery translation, environmental translation, etc.). He/she has the necessary reference materials for translating even the most difficult texts as accurately as possible.

A translation agency that uses computer-assisted translation tools such as SDL Trados, the leader in this field. This does not mean that the translation is done by a machine. Instead, it is a very powerful tool that helps translators and proofreaders maintain consistency throughout the translation. Technical terms and longer texts that are used frequently are then translated the same way every time.

A translation company that develops client-specific glossaries. Each company and each activity has its own terminology and preferences. In order for your clients and foreign audience to understand your translated documents, they must be able to find the same vocabulary throughout all your brochures and documents. Establishing a glossary serves this goal and ensures even greater accuracy while building the company's "memory".

A translation company that provides a quality check through proven processes before delivering the translation. A quality check is an essential step before the client receives the translated documents. Only translation companies can provide this type of service as they usually have translators in-house who proofread all translations carried out by freelance translators. Quality control prevents major translation mistakes from occurring as well as ensuring that the documents you receive are ready for printing, circulating or publishing. Even the best translators need to have their work proofed!

A translation company that provides turnkey services: what if your document has been produced using FrameMaker, InDesign, QuarkXpress, Illustrator? Or if you need XML, HTM or other types of file translated? Wouldn't you rather receive the translation in the same format instead of having your internal services do the DTP work and risk making a major mistake, as often they do not speak the language? Some translation companies do indeed provide DTP services and can deliver ready-to-print complex documents.

A translation company that has multilingual capacity: more and more companies require translations of their documents into several languages. Let's say you need a technical manual translated into 18 languages (French, German, Portuguese, Italian, Spanish, Dutch, Norwegian, Swedish, Danish, Finnish, Polish, Turkish, Greek, Russian, Arabic, Chinese, Japanese, and Slovak). Are you ready to deal with 18 different translators and 18 proofreaders? Answering their questions, making sure they all translate according to your specific instructions? This can be a very time-consuming task, and that is why hiring a translation agency, which means you have just one single point of contact, makes the translation process much smoother for you.

A translation company that offers short turnaround times. If you have an urgent project, the translation company must be able to assign a team of several translators/proofreaders to meet your deadline requirements.

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