Good quality professional translation services can be a real asset to your business and also a major, long term investment. Professional and expert grade translation does more than just make you available on the global stage, but implies quality, respect for other nationalities, inclusivity and raises visibility substantially.
Negating language and culture barriers can be the leap forward your business or service needs to really come into its own, and neglecting professional grade translation services in favour of simplistic and often inaccurate automated online options can be a costly mistake. If you’re a more sizeable business, you might consider creating your own in-house team, but that can often be an exercise in futility, with smaller, less-qualified teams less able to offer the often specialist, culturally-sensitive translation you could potentially require.
There are several key things you need to be aware of in order to select the best translation service for you, and to optimise your current translation methods and systems.
First off, isolating your precise translation needs is essential. What kind of business or service are you? For instance, a larger, sprawling business, with arms in different industries and areas, as well as a physical presence and an online presence would need a more specialist, advanced translation service. You also need to consider the amount of translation you’re going to be needing, for example, how many pages of text make up your website or media? And how frequently is that text updated or added to?
These are crucial for being able to put a time-frame on translation services, as well as finding a translation company that’ll be able to cater skilfully to your regular needs. Knowing precisely what your business requires allows you to get the most accurate and best-value quotes from a selection of translation services, as well as allowing them the ability to give you accurate and reliable guarantees and time-frames on the translation work.
How specialist is your business? If you’re using a lot of highly technical, unusual industry terminology and language then you really need to look into more specialised translation services. Different professional translation companies offer different specialisations, and as such you need to find the most relevant and suitable one for your business or service. There’s also the issue of cultural differences and sensibilities to factor in. With such a divide culturally between the West and parts of the Far East and Middle East, you need an experienced and reliable translation service to vet the language and terminology you’re putting out there in order to guarantee smooth interactions and dealings.
The stability that steady, accurate translation services offers your business cannot be understated. When compared against constructing, recruiting, monitoring and maintaining your own in-house team, utilising an effective and high-value external translation service is outsourcing that will take necessary and valuable chores away from your business, allowing yourself and other management figures to focus entirely on maximising and optimising your businesses revenue, services and other more important focuses. Out-sourcing has long been a key tenet of literally any business and avoiding micro-managing is crucial to expansion and growth within yours and any business model.
With a massive three quarters of the internet being none English speakers, providing high quality translation really ceases to be an option, and becomes something of a necessity if you have any vested interest in growth and development and becoming a player on the worldwide stage. With the global nature of the worldwide web, professional translation quite literally embody the key to much wider marketplace and audience. Depending on the size of your business, it’s really just a case of finding a service that best matches and works with your business type, and can offer you the best value deal and guarantees. As with any service, it’s really just a case of getting quotes and researching the different services available, and once you find the ideal professional translation service nailing down a sturdy and dependable contract in order to guarantee you high quality regular service.
This article is based on an interview with Neil Gauld, owner and MD of Brightlines Translation, a UK based company offering a large selection of translation services for customers around the world.