Crucial Questions You Need to Ask Before Hiring a Translation Service

Translating marketing copies from one language to another has become mainstream ever since a lot of companies decided to expand their operation overseas.

Considering the ease of communication and file transfer through the internet, even startup businesses are encouraged to test the waters in foreign lands to see if their planned venture has any potential of surviving the competition and become a sustainable part of the industry.

One of the fundamental challenges that foreign companies would have to deal with is that of the language barrier. People in any society regardless of culture and language will buy products or services that they trust. And how else can you start building your confidence factor than by communicating in the same language as your market?

This is where language translation services come in handy.

They are composed of a skilled team of translators with expertise not only in a foreign language but also on specific fields of specialization like law, medicine, and finance. With their help, companies can convert their local messaging into a different language without much hassle.

If you’re on the hunt for the best service, it’s crucial that you are aware of the various entities that can offer you the service. Moreover, not all of them can deliver the same high quality of the result. To help you arrive at the best choice, do ask the service the following question.

Are the translators working for the company or agency within the country?

It’s always an advantage to work with local translators who are both skilled in the language as well as the new jargons, culture and any conversational change of the area. Trusting the bulk of the job to machines or non-locals may cause some words or terms to be taken out of context.

Has the agency tried translating materials before that are synonymous to yours?

This question primarily addressed the credibility and experience of the company. Surely, you will have better peace of mind if you work with translators who have already tried doing some work relevant to your industry in the past. If you are running a health service, for instance, it is good to get someone who has translated copies for hospitals, private clinics, and even medical organization.

Of course, this remains your prerogative, but it’s better to consider one’s professional experience both for accuracy and time efficiency.

What kind of quality assurance control are they implementing?

This has something to do with the checking of the translated copies. Efficient services understand that human translators, no matter how skilled, can still commit errors. As such, they make sure that a separate team of editors along with the necessary tools are there to do the final check.

Keep in mind that not all services have internal control procedure on board their package. Might as well settle for options that have.

Is the agency capable of translating data in different formats?

Most common formats are doc, xls, ppt, and all the essential features you will find in Microsoft. However, marketing copies have a wider range than that. Formats such as HTML, InDesign, YML, FrameMaker and the like can be included in the documents in need of translation.

For convenience and accuracy, choose those companies who have the tools and expertise to convert various data formats into a specified material.

Expanding one’s business operations overseas has great potential of growing money. However, communicating your message to a foreign audience will always require accuracy in context all throughout. Find the best local translation service and negotiate on your company needs. Assess their ability to deliver what you want by asking the questions we have on the list.