In the current globalized economy we are living, have you  ever thought about the amount of corporate content that is daily submitted to translation and localization  services?

If you work at a multinational company, you certainly live with this reality and need. Manuals, websites, software, contracts, trainings, presentations, catalogues, packages, publicity ads, among several other types of communication, constitute a variety of materials that demand communicating in more than one language.

For the companies that operate in more than one country, it is fundamental for communication to be seen strategically, since we know that transmitting information clearly, whether for an internal or external audience, is one of the basic premises for any business’ success.

Therefore, speaking with your target-audience on its own local language is fundamental to create identification with your brand and to fully understand the message you want to communicate.

That’s why hiring translation services must be an important aspect for your decision-making!

Currently, there are multiple options of providers and charging formats for translation services on the market. With that in mind, how about starting to question whether you have been making the right choice for your company?

To assist you on this process, today’s article will list some facts no one ever told about the subject, starting with the formulation of a translation estimate.

Do you hire translation services based on the lowest price?

If you answered “yes” to this question, you are very likely spending your company’s money poorly. It’s that same old story: you get what you pay for, right?

The value of a translation estimate may vary according to the scope and needs of the estimated project. So, if you consider the lowest translation estimate alone or the shortest delivery term, or even disregard the complementary services that, depending on the case, would help to assure the highest quality level for your project, you will run the risk of receiving a material that does not meet your goals.

That’s why the search for a translation service must involve evaluating different pre-requirements. In addition to the price, you will need to consider two other elements found on every project and that are fundamental for its success: scope and deadline.

For example: when the deadline is an extremely important factor for you, it is important to share this information right away with the chosen translation company, for it to create a customized proposal to meet your needs.

This customization is feasible for high-performance translation companies, since, differently from a self-employed professional or small agencies, they have more resources available, among them, a huge database of native translators from different parts of the world, categorized by nationality, language and specialization area.

The best professional agencies on the market conduct a strict contact, recruiting and selection process for experienced linguists on different market segments, who are constantly evaluated to assure the highest quality standard for the translations.

The proficiency of the translator who will work on your project determines its success; however, this alone cannot assure a good final result for the work!

There are other issues behind a good agency, such as technological structure to perform the backup and storage of the customer’s history (a factor that eliminates the risk of losing any information in case of mishap during the project’s execution); the use of translation tools that ensure the confidentiality of the information and the integrity of the content, also allowing the Project Manager to monitor the work’s evolution and to act ahead of time in case any deviation in relation to the delivery deadline agreed with the customer is found, among other factors.

That’s why, when hiring a translation service, you should choose a partner who is able to help you and your company substantially leverage your business through a Premium translation, creating the best strategy based on the most relevant variable for your need. More than that, get to know also the complementary services it offers to mitigate risks and ensure effective results for your company.

Benefits offered by the complementary translation services

Another fact you may not be aware of is that some companies offer a range of complementary translation services, which you may or may not choose to hire, according to the need and visibility of each project. It works almost like a medical prescription, in which some medicines are prescribed and others are not, in order to treat your diagnosis.

In both cases, greater than the possible changes these additional items may offer to the estimate of a translation service, it is important to evaluate properly the benefits that they will provide.

The main complementary translation services are:

Extraction: this stage is recommended when the document to be translated is a non-editable file, that is, a PDF file or image files. It consists in extracting the text from the original file and turning it into an editable format, such as a Word document. In this case, the content is extracted as simple text, without visual elements and, once extracted, it will be ready to be inserted into the professional translation tools, where the work will be carried out by the translators.

File redesign: when the material to be translated has a closed format and you need it to be returned with the same layout as the original document, it will be necessary to “redesign” the file with an open format, considering all the visual and text elements, so the end file translated remains with the same layout as the original document. This is what the redesign offers: it allows you to obtain the editable version of a non-editable file, such as PDF or image files.

Review: conducted by a second linguist after the translation, this stage will save your work hours by eliminating the need for you or someone on your team to use your time to conduct this task. That is, if you do not have available time to review the translated material, the safest choice is to count on a partner who can do this with complete accuracy.

Consistency check: this stage assures the construction and maintenance of each client’s discursive identity, not only in one text, but across all files from the same translation project. It validates the terminological and structural issues of the material, and may also be associated to a meticulous terminology check and/or to the standardization of structures of similar or identical sentences on a translation.

DTP: this activity spares the client from the concern of having to make the DTP service internally or having to hire a third party to do so, which, in both cases, offers the risk of changes to the translated content.

Nearly every translation process alters the original size of the document, because translated content may increase or decrease the text volume, thus causing changes in layout. The best translation companies have a team of specialists in DTP and copy-editing specialists, which are responsible for editing the post-translation material, leaving it with the same layout as the original document and ready to be published or printed. These specialists work with files of the most varied types and formats, using the main graphic publishing tools on the market.

LSO (Language Sign-Off): during this stage, a target language linguist analyzes the translated content in final design format, aiming to validate it in the context where it will be used. For such, the linguist seeks to check all layout elements and simulate the user’s experience with the finished material, before publication, eliminating potential mistakes that might be noticed by the customer after the material’s release or publication. The LSO service is indicated specially for materials with high visibility.

SME (Subject-Matter Expert) Review: aiming at minimizing the review activities made by you after the material is delivered, this complementary service to the translation is conducted by a specialist on the specific subject of the project, who will not only focus on the text, but also on the market where the product will be inserted.

By hiring the SME Review, your translation will not only count on an experienced translator on the source and target languages, but also on a professional with expertise in the subject-matter in question.

Glossary creation and management: constituted by a personalized list of the most complex and recurring terms of your company, the glossary helps to maintain the terminological standardization among projects.

In order to create them, professional agencies analyze the documents to be translated and extract the main terms to, then, suggest translations that will be sent for your approval. From there, you will be able to inform your preferred translations or the translation already used as standard by your company in order to be inserted on the list.

Memory maintenance: translation memories are databases that store all segments already translated for your company, which may be sentences, paragraphs or even isolated terms. They are created and updated according to certain criteria, such as a specific language pair and the client’s terminology preferences, and they allow the reuse of translations that have already been made. This leads to cost reductions, increased productivity, and terminological and structural consistency among translations.

Can you see how important it is to consider the offer as a whole and the benefits that a good-quality service will offer to your business, in order to make an assertive choice?

Only a good translation company will have a set of actions to meet the specific needs of your company. If you have a translation project and you need an estimate, talk to an expert on the subject:

About Netwire

Founded in 2000, Netwire is a multilingual solution enterprise that provides translation and localization into any language in the world. Headquartered in Brazil, the company has an office in Argentina and a presence in North America and Europe. With robust infrastructure involving state-of-the-art technologies and the best professionals in the field, Netwire ensures high volume processing at high quality standards with quick turnover, precise control and project management, rigorous selection of native translators in every corner of the world, rapid learning of client preferences, secure and real-time data storage, information traceability and on-time delivery of the final material.

This solid foundation underlying Netwire’s services ensures a superior level of quality over other translation agencies in the market. In the past five years alone, the company processed over 110 million words, delivering an average of 400 projects per month. This experience has increasingly sparked the interest of global brands that make up its client portfolio, positioning Netwire as the right company to handle any translation demand. Request an estimate via website or by telephone and guarantee the best solution for your business!