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Global marketing has brought with it a new demand for translation services. There are many languages involved in the market place and each has its own differences in grammar, spelling, and construction. Translation requires a careful selection of translator and reviewer services. Since you probably do not have the expertise to evaluate the quality of a translated document you can help ensure quality by making sure the source document you provide for the translation is of the highest quality possible and that the provider of your service meets your requirements.
Before giving your document(s) to the translator to be converted into your selected targeted language, make sure they are grammatically correct. Make sure all words are spelled correctly. The documents should be double and even triple checked by different people to ensure you have error free documents to submit for translation. Make sentences as brief as possible. Do not use abbreviations, do not use don’t, use do not. This will make for fewer errors in the translated documents. Before you give the documents to the service provider, make sure you keep a copy for yourself.
When you select the service provider, remember that low cost is not necessarily the best. In order to keep costs down some will automatically select the lowest cost service they can find. Selecting a service provider on this basis might end up costing you more in the long run.
Select a service provider that has a number of years experience in translating into the targeted language of your choice. The translator utilized should be translating into his or her native language to ensure they are familiar with the culture and ins and outs of the language they are translating into. The translator should also understand the source language extremely well. The translation service provider selected should be able to complete you documents from start to finish. This includes translating, editing, proofreading, and desktop publishing if that is what you need.
Giving the source language error free documents to the translator does not guarantee you a good translation. There needs to be a very thorough discussion about your project—your targeted audience and what you expect the documents to do for you. You need to answer any questions the translator may have. Be available after translation begins to answer questions.
Plan your project well and allow ample time for the service to be completed. Settle all time frames up front with the translator and never, never ask the translator to hurry up because this can cause an inferior translation, which could be detrimental to your business.
You should select an independent reviewer to check the translated documents. This will help ensure that you get the quality for which you are looking. Do not submit the document to the reviewer piece meal. Submit the document when it has been completed. Submitting less than the completed project may be costly and cause errors. Do not try to put together pieces of the translation yourself. Leave that to the professionals.
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