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Translation_Services_Use_a_translator_a_Translation_Agency_or_Do_it_In house
| Translation Services: Use a translator, a Translation Agency or Do it In-house?
Translation Services: Use a translator, a Translation Agency or
Do it In-house?
A challenge almost any company entering an international market
will be faced with is translating its marketing materials,
product and service documentation, and other documents into the
language of the target market. Depending on your requirements,
there are basically three options:
• You can do the translation yourself or have someone in your
company do it. • You can find and hire a different translator
for each language. • You can hire a translation agency.
To make this decision, you will have to consider several
factors, including your abilities and resources, your needs, and
the cost.
Your Resources Do you, or does someone else in your company,
have the ability to do the translation? If you require a
translation into Spanish, for example, and you have a
Spanish-speaking employee in your company, it is tempting to
simply assign him or her to perform the translation services.
However, there are several factors to take into account:
1. A translator is more than just someone who speaks two
languages. A translator has to be perfectly fluent in both
languages and will usually translate from her second language,
the source language, to her mother tongue, the target language.
It is of great advantage if she lives in the country your
translation is intended for. She needs to be familiar with the
topic that is translated and have excellent writing and editing
capabilities in the target language. Consider this: When you
have your marketing material written, do you simply choose any
person who speaks English? Or do you select someone with
excellent writing skills – and still have the text proofread by
a second pair of eyes? You should have the same demands for your
potential translator. So does your German, French, or Spanish
employee have the necessary writing skills in her first
language? If, however, you have such enormous requirements for
translation into one single language that you can employ one
translator full-time, this might be the most economical option.
Just make sure that you have the necessary expertise to choose a
competent translator. Remember: this will be the only person to
perform all your professional translation services. If you are
dissatisfied with the work this person is doing, it will not be
easy to switch translators. Also, you will probably still want
to have someone else proofread the translation, just as you
probably had someone proofread your original texts.
2. Having you employees perform the translation services costs
you too Do not forget to take into account the time it will take
your employee to work on the translation. A professional
translator can translate about 2,000 words per workday. Someone
who is less experienced may need quite a bit more time. During
this time, your employees working on the translation won’t be
able to perform their regular job tasks.
Your Needs Do you regularly require professional translation
services into one language or do you need a one-time translation
of one or more documents into several languages? If you
regularly need translation services into only one or two
languages (20,000 words or more per month), it may be worthwhile
to hire your own professional translator to work in your company
full-time. If, on the other hand, you occasionally need
translations into many languages, or if you have very large
translation jobs to be completed in a short time, using a
translation agency will take care of all the necessary
logistics. The agency will find the appropriate translator for
each language, or possible more than one translator if the
deadline is tight, assign the proofreading tasks, and ensure
that everything is completed on time and the service quality is
top-notch.
Cost The cheapest option to get your translation services done
is seemingly doing it yourself or having an employee of your
company do it. However, there are hidden costs, such as the time
spent and possibly inferior quality, that you should consider. A
poor translation can cost you more in business than you would
ever have spent on having the work done right. Another option,
which is also quite cost-effective, is hiring a freelance
translator yourself and skipping the middleman, i.e. the
translation agency. If you decide to go this route, make sure
that you have the knowledge and experience to pick a qualified
translator and to judge the quality of the translation. The last
option is giving the job to a professional translation agency,
which will take care of everything related to the required
translation services. This is the most recommended option for
most companies. It ensures that you get the best possible
quality, which is the most important factor when deciding which
way to go. Remember: You may pay a little more for this service
upfront, but you will keep paying for a poor translation for as
long as you use, publish, or distribute it. The cost in lost
business due to poor quality translations dwarfs the money spent
on a good translation. When using a translation agency, you also
won’t need to worry about paying the translator internationally,
as it is always a good idea to choose a translator in the target
country.
The decision is yours. You have several viable options,
depending on your resources, needs, and cost. Always keep in
mind though that the most important factor when choosing any
professional translation service provider is quality.
© Christian Erwig-Straughan
About the author:
Christian Erwig-Straughan is a GermanEnglish translator with 9
years experience and the author and webmaster of the Translation
Services Info Guide,
http://www.translation-and-languages.com.
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