If you are an entrepreneur and want to export your products, you need to know how to ask for professional translation services in an intelligent and informed way.
Finding the right service provider and technology to meet your demands is difficult, especially when you are just getting started. To receive a good quality translation service the first time around, one must know the field at least a little.
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Peculiarities of the translation market
The translation market is strange. In recent years it has felt the effects of two trends in recent years which, while similar, have conflicting effects. On the one hand, it’s not unusual for long chains of middlemen to form in this industry, so the end client (you) often loses sight of who is actually doing the translation. The price goes up, but the value does not.
On the other hand, businesses are now competing with each other on a more global level. Because of the "mercification" (commoditization) of the product, for many customers only price matters. In order to attract these clients, providers compete for lower and lower rates to the point that in some cases they become unsustainable. As a result, they end up hiring or subcontracting young and inexperienced staff. The result: a deterioration in overall quality.
To illustrate this problem, let’s use an analogy about tomatoes. The same kilo of tomatoes that costs 30 cents on a farm in Southern Italy costs five times more at the supermarket, but at the same time must compete with tomatoes from greenhouses in Holland which don’t taste like tomatoes, but are very cheap. The result? Italian farmers end up dumping their vegetables in the streets in protest.
As if this were not enough, one other peculiarity of the industry is the number of offers from people who are not fully qualified, leading to a plethora of translation agencies which actually only consist of one or two people, typically husband and wife, who advertise a website that looks like that of a large agency.
These sites are easily recognised because they all look a bit alike: the typical stock photos with handshakes, smiling employees, panoramic shots of cities across the world, flags, bridges, and so on. Then, when you read their texts, they almost always repeat the same concepts: we offer translations in any language combination, with the best graduate native professionals, we are fast, punctual, etc.
But it is actually a couple working from home.
What to do when you need a translation
The solution is based on 3 fundamental concepts:
- reducing the number of middlemen, cutting them out entirely where possible
- making a decision based purely on price is not the best strategy
- if you want the best results, you need to “do your homework”.
When looking for translation services, you need to resist the urge to seek out short cuts.
For example, simply choosing the first result that appears in a quick search on Google is not the best idea.
And the “DIY” solution or “I have a nephew who did summer school in France...” option even less so.
It’s also not a good idea to just run something through Google Translate (or any similar tools). However, this does not mean the automatic translation option should be dismissed out of hand. For years we have been fighting for the proper use of automation and technology applied to translation, which we have discussed in various conferences and articles.
Rather than simply improvising, there is a structured way to go about this, which we will set out in 5 steps:
- Plan your multilingual communication
- Objectives and needs to be defined
- assign the project to a project manager
- Efficient use of resources
- Ratify a service contract
1. Plan your multilingual communication
Translation should be seen as being part of a broader context of business communication. For example, when choosing which technology to use for publishing content, a company should consider whether that content should be translated or not, and if so, into which languages. Depending on the answer, this could mean taking various elements such as graphics, language encoding and development into account.
As a rule of thumb, it’s always a good idea to choose “open” formats, ones not exclusively linked to particular programmes or systems. The main advantage of open formats is that they are not linked to any one developer in particular, and so are not subject to the whims of the market.
We are talking here about formats used by OpenOffice / LibreOffice, like OpenDocument, HTML, XML, Portable Object, LaTeX, etc.
Some of these formats are more easily translated than others. In the case of documents, we could put XML and HTML on the “good” side and PDF on the “bad” side.
In a nutshell: In any case, it’s important to use the right format. If it’s open, all the better, and if it’s easy to translate, better still.
By "easy to translate" I mean that it can be processed directly by assisted translation software (so-called CAT tools), without the need for format conversions and other intermediate steps, which are always risky and are never 100% guaranteed against data loss.
It’s a good idea then to get informed about, or consult experts on, localisation before making a decision, as it will save you both money and a migraine.
2. Objectives and needs to be defined
At this point, we should clarify exactly what the objective of the translation project, or rather the multilingual business communication project, is.
What will we need to do this? What exactly do we want to achieve?
If we want to make one of our products known to an international public or sell it on a foreign market, we need to prioritise the product’s content.
In some cases it won’t be necessary to translate all the content at once, so we recommend limiting it to the content needed to reach your intended audience.
The news page of a website is a typical example: Does it really matter to our potential French customers that we participated in a fair in Turin in 2021?
When looking to reduce translation costs, instead of asking for 5 quotes and choosing the cheapest, simply leave out all the unnecessary content. Or, rewrite the original texts first with an eye to brevity and clarity, ideally using a controlled language.
A precise definition of which the target languages and countries are will also be needed. Please don’t be that client who asks for translations into “African” (this is not unheard of).
Depending on the type of text, you need to pay attention to regional variation as well, as in the case of Spanish, which is written and spoken differently from country to country across Latin America.
If you are only looking for translation into one or two languages, it might be better to hire freelance translators, rather than an agency. This way you will have more direct contact with those actually doing the work, and communication will flow better. However, in other cases, choosing an agency will allow you to skip the gruelling task of having to search for and communicate with multiple prospective translators, especially if there are multiple target languages.
3. Work with a project manager
The first two steps normally involve multiple people in a company, but there comes a time when you will have to choose someone who is capable of making certain decisions and is responsible for finding and selecting the right service provider based on the needs set out in the previous steps. In addition to choosing the service provider, this person’s tasks include:
- maintaining contact
- being aware of any part of the project that could cause confusion
- having the skills to communicate useful information successfully
- responding to queries
- and last but not least, providing feedback during and after the project.
To ensure that everyone involved in the translation project follows the same rules, it may be helpful to draft a style guide. This way the translator knows, for example, whether the client wants to maintain a formal or informal tone, how certain terms should be used, whether to avoid “forbidden” words, etc.
At the same time, for projects with a certain level of complexity, a simple question and answer system can be used to communicate with translators and resolve any issues in a more systematic way. To this end you can either use a simple, shared spreadsheet, look online for a system that allows you to manage, respond to, store, search and reuse information, or set up an account with a chat service like Slack or Mattermost. In any case, to prevent information from becoming too dispersed and time from being wasted, it is crucial that all communication be channelled through a single person.
4. Efficient use of resources
Depending on the type and volume of work commissioned, on its complexity and on the deadline, choosing a translation provider can take a lot of time. However, there are some short cuts you can use to reduce waiting times.
For a start, it may be a good idea to ask your personal and business contacts if they can recommend a translator or agency. It’s very important to us reliable references for this option. Social networks and professional forums like LinkedIn can really help with this. If anyone you know has found themselves in your situation and has done at least some of the “homework” already, why not make the most of that?
Then there are translators’ associations, which in many cases provide translator directories and some search and filter tools on their sites. Several exist in Italy, including ANITI, AITI and TradInfo.
For more options, there are also specific portals aimed at translators and companies, like ProZ, Translatorscafé Translatorsbase, and many more.
By now, you ought to have found a good number of potential service providers.
It’s a similar process when it comes to companies: after asking our contacts, we can turn to trade associations, such as Unilingue or Federlingue and then to the marketplaces already mentioned. The aim of all this is to choose potential service providers to get in touch with. Though it is much more convenient nowadays to just send an email, it is surprising just how much information you can get from a simple phone call. In some cases, phone calls can be a deciding factor for the final choice.
After the first phone call, you can send a request with all the information about the job in question, especially:
- the language of the original text
- the language you want the translation to be in (also known as “language 2”, “language B”, or “target language”)
- the deadline
- the estimated volume (in words, folders, or pages)
- the complete text (or a sample at least).
In addition to sending a quote, you can also ask whether the provider will do a test translation. Translators will often accept a test translation of less than 300 words, which can be sent to other translators or agencies for evaluation. Some translators prefer to send samples of past work.
Lastly, it is advisable to ask whether they can handle the volume of work required and whether they provide any guarantees in case of complaints. Moreover, sending all the content to be translated at once won’t be necessary, but the first consignment can be used to confirm the choice of translator.
5. Ratifying a service contract
Signing a contract is recommended in order to bind the parties before starting, if the workload and type of assignment call for it. This contract must include the terms of service, for example:
- a definition of the service (translation, revision, layout...)
- the source and target languages
- the source and target formats
- terms of delivery
- rates and terms of payment
- provisions in case of complaints.
Conclusions
In this brief article, we have deliberately avoided the question of translation technology, because we take it for granted that the service providers you contact will use all the necessary IT tools to provide a modern and efficient service.
Again, I recommend preferring, if possible, open alternatives (open source) such as OmegaT, which use file formats that are compatible with other programs. The years of experience that Qabiria has with this programme and the level of development that it has reached make it just as good as any commercial software.
However, the most important thing to bear in mind is that rushing never works in our favour when it comes to costs and results in this industry.
The three elements that usually come into play here are rates, deadlines, and quality, and all three of them must be well balanced.
If we insist on low rates, delivery time and quality may be affected. Similarly, if we have a very close deadline because we have waited until the last moment to contact the translators, the rate will likely be higher, and the quality inadequate.
If we manage to devote the right amount of time to each part, we will have more time for decision making and we will almost certainly save money and achieve better results.
[Contact us without obligation](/contact us): we will find together the best way to internationalize your content!
