Choosing A Translation Services Provider

Factors in Choosing a Translation Services Provider that is the right fit for your business?

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It is extremely important for organizations to effectively communicate in multiple languages at home and internationally.  It’s the difference between being tremendously successful or a colossal failure in the lucrative multilingual markets. Choosing a translation services provider that is the right fit for your language needs will make all the difference in effectively communicating to your multilingual markets.

• One in five US residents speaks a language other than English, according to US census data;
• More than 300 languages are spoken in U.S. Homes;
• Most of the world Web Sites are in English, over 85% of the world’s Web users are non-English speakers;
• Web users are five times more likely to make purchases on Web Sites that communicate in their own native language;
• Industry surveys suggest, 72.4% of consumers said they would be more likely to buy a product with information in their own language.

The above list can go on and on with reasons why it’s critical for organizations to speak the language of their multilingual audiences. When you can produce effective multilingual content and communications the opportunities are endless, but first, you’ll need a professional language partner, who has a wide range of capabilities, deep industry experience, expertise in your domain, and state of the art technological resources to deliver high-quality language solutions and flawless multilingual content that engages your target markets.  This is not an easy task if you choose a language service provider that is not the right fit for your language need.

.Four Critical Factors to Consider when Choosing a Translation Services Provider:

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1. Industry-Specific Expertise

A translation service provider’s lack of industry expertise is perhaps the number one reason, why a language project fails to meet the expectations of clients and stakeholders.  When you choose a provider that has little to no experience in your industry, they will not have the capabilities to provide the right pricing, project manager, linguists expertise and technical resources to provide high-quality deliverables. 

Right pricing is an important factor during the quote phase of a language project.  This is where the project’s preliminary planning occurs and a language services provider that does not have the expertise in the client’s industry will not be able to provide all the services called for in a language project.  For example, a language services provider that primarily works in legal translations may not have the capabilities to provide accurate pricing for a voice over production of training videos.  They may underprice or overprice a project and not include all the components that go into a successful voice over project.

The Project Manager and Linguists must have expertise and experience within your industry.  The Project Manager is typically your advisor on a language project.  He/she is the team captain of a language team and they must have a strong understanding of your industry and your content to produce high-quality deliverables.  After all, the PM is will choose all the Linguists, technical resources and ensure all quality control methodologies are followed on the language project.

The Linguist’s expertise will directly impact the quality of the translated content.  The lack of the subject matter expertise of the Linguists will have a negative effect on the industry-specific word choices, understanding, and overall language quality.  A Translator that does not have an understanding of the subject matter will prove to be detrimental to the overall quality of the translated deliverables.  A Translator may be a star at providing legal, but may not have the technical expertise to translate a Manufacturing Technical Operational Manual. 

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2. Rigorous Quality Control Standards

A professional, reputable translation services provider should have a quality control process that ensures accuracy and error-free translations.  A client can confirm a language services provider’s by asking them to provide their quality control methodology in writing.  Also, you can ensure that an LSP has followed their quality control process in the following ways:

• Have them provide a notarized certification that attests to the quality control methodologies.  This is a company’s promise that it followed all steps of the quality control process that it provided in writing.

• Ask for confirmation that each of the quality control steps were followed.  For instance, provide edits in track changes, translator’s testing results, voice-over raw recordings, etc.

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3. Excellent References

Most language service providers will share references from their favorite companies, and they’ll provide these same references time and time again.  To ensure, you receive a clear picture of a company’s capabilities, you should ask for the following reference types:

• Industry-specific references;
• The references must be from projects that are similar in size, complexity, languages and scope to your project;
• Recent references within the past 3 years.

Professional LSP’s will have no issue in providing all the above reference types.  If an LSP cannot provide you with adequate, verifiable references, it should raise red flags and it’s time to move onto another LSP.

4. Fair and Competitive Pricing—The Cheapest is Not the Best Solution

Fair and competitive pricing are the keywords that will guide you through the process of choosing a language service provider the right fit for your organization.  A quote is typically a red flag and you should rigorously implement the strategies above to and review the provider.  There is either something missing in the quote or the reputation of the provider is questionable.  Some questionable business practices for low ball offers:

They may be using machine translation;

They are using non-native, inexperienced translators;

They are outsourcing to other countries not native to target languages for pennies;

They will find ways to raise the pricing once you sign a contract (read the fine print).

Fair pricing is when all the relevant translation workflow components are noted in the quote and a high caliber team of Project Managers, Linguists, and Editors are selected for your project with all the quality control protocols in place. Also, your quote should include the following:

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• Each component of the translation workflow process, such as translation, editing, formatting, and reviews should be listed separately;

• What you get for the full cost of the quote;
• How much will revisions cost;
• Terms and a confidentiality clause that protects you and the LSP;
• LSP’s corporate information (years in business, Directors, Corporate status).

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5. The Experience Level of Your Language Team

Your multilingual content and communications will be as good as the language team.  This will typically include the Translators, Editors, Proofreaders, Project Managers, etc.  A language team with deep experience and expertise will produce high-quality multilingual content and communications.  This is where transparency really matters. 

You should be asking the following questions about the LSP’s Experience Level:

What is the experience level of the translation team?  This can typically be answered in the following ways:

• Linguists Resumes and Background Information;
• Certifications (American Translators Association);
• Work Samples;
• Conference call to discuss the project scope with the language team.

Your Project Manager is key to bringing together your language team and they should be able to provide all the necessary information in order for you to make an informed decision.

.About Global Link

Global Link Language Services, Inc. (Global Link) was founded in 1996 by a Linguist and an Entrepreneur to provide customized language solutions that help organizations effectively communicate with their multilingual audiences around the world.   The founders’ principles are both simple and straight forward:  to provide customized language solutions of the highest quality with unparallel customer service at fair and competitive pricing. 

Since 1996, Global Link has been headquartered in Boston, Massachusetts, while serving clients around the world.  By always keeping the client’s best interest at the forefront, Global Link has emerged as a leader in the language services industry with clients ranging from Fortune 500 companies to emerging start-ups, as well as many government agencies.  Clients have come to rely on Global Link’s consultative approach in delivering professional translation, interpretation, and localization services in over 150 languages. Our goal is to provide high-quality, specialized language solutions that add value to our clients and help them engage businesses, markets, and governments around the world