Why You Should Hire a Professional Translation Agency for Your Project

While not every professional entity will make plans to reach out to a new target audience who speaks a different language or require official documents to be translated, a significant number will. Suppose you manage an organization that needs particular items translated from one language to another or indeed from one language to various languages. In such instances, you should invest in a high-quality translation service. But why is this the case? Let's take a look at the advantages of using translation professionals and experts for your organization.  

Why do you need a professional translation agency?

The translation profession is booming, which is why so many people are striving to break into it. There is, however, a significant distinction between professional translation services and those provided by inexperienced translators. Professional, native translators are essential for companies that want to reach a wide range of markets because they have the experience and knowledge to adapt the translation to the end-user. Inexperienced translators frequently make the error of translating literally. Professional translators will be able to translate your material into any language with speed and accuracy. The quality/standard of their work is guaranteed because they are trained professionals who know how to do things the right way.

Professional, high-quality translation services recognize the importance of maintaining the integrity of the original document. Professional translators will ensure that your material contains those keywords that your target markets will be looking for. At the same time, they have the expertise to match the translation to the original text's terminology, tone, and style, ensuring that the message you want to express is delivered correctly. If you want your application for a foreign market expansion, an educational institution, immigration, and other things approved, you should employ the services of a professional translator. When you entrust your translation assignment to a professional, you can expect high-quality, accurate, and error-free translation.

Benefits of Using Professional Translation Services

A competent translator is familiar with your target market and employs terms and phrases that your target audience will understand.  A professional translator with expertise will either find the appropriate terminology or ask you to provide a list of specialized terms to ensure consistency in the translation. Below are some of the benefits of employing high-quality translation services.

Structured approach: Some of the best translation service(s) providers follow a structured workflow process that includes a project manager, translator, proofreader, and editor, ensuring that the translation passes a stringent quality assurance system. The provider ensures that the translation project is completed on time.

Resources: An organization should hire a translation company because they have the right resources in that field, just as a commercial property owner would hire a professional construction company for work because they have the right resources and equipment. As an organization, you have access to a large pool of highly experienced professional linguists when you partner with the services of a professional translation company. Expert translators specializing in specific domains such as legal, marketing, website content, or medical translations are available at the leading translation agencies. These translators are experienced and knowledgeable about your target market and consumer base.

Efficiency: Often, translation is required within tight timeframes and must meet strict deadlines. Working with a professional translation business assures you that everything will be translated quickly and accurately. You won't have to worry about translated documents arriving late or missing deadlines if the work is put in the hands of skilled professionals. Set a deadline with a professional, and you'll be sure to finish the projects on time or ahead of schedule. Such efficiency will bring down the cost of translation and improve the turnaround time. 

An In-Depth Understanding of the Language: While far too many businesses and organizations make the mistake of entrusting their translation job to an inexperienced bilingual or a machine translation, it doesn't have to be that way, and it shouldn't be. If you don't use professional translation services, you risk receiving a subpar output. When relying on machine translation, the language is frequently mistranslated, making it difficult or impossible for your target audience to understand your message. When you engage a competent translation company, you avoid this costly blunder and ensure that your documents are appropriately translated.

Accuracy: When translating medical, legal, or marketing texts, or indeed any other type of material, precision is crucial. Unless you partner with an expert, you risk undermining the language's accuracy. Professional translators ensure that everything is written correctly in terms of punctuation, grammar, spelling, symbols, and other variables in language translation.
Cultural understanding: A genuinely great professional translator is multilingual and culturally aware. They possess all the necessary qualities and skills for effective translation and there is complete awareness of the cultural factors associated with the language. The translators are usually native speakers of the language into which your content is being translated, so they are well-versed in any cultural differences. They will take them into account when translating.

You Save Money: While you will have to make a financial investment to obtain excellent high-quality translation services, it will be well worth it. If you choose a translation company that entices you with a low price, it could severely affect your business and the quality of the work. Go for a somewhat more expensive yet very experienced provider to get the job done right the first time. If your projects are correctly translated, you may find that you make more money by reaching a new target audience who speaks a different language. Do not take the risk of going with a cheaper, yet potentially lower-quality provider, as having to then correct poor translations would only incur additional costs.

You Save Time: Not every firm (indeed, almost none) has the time or energy to commit to translating their own documents. Hence seeking the help of a third party is beneficial. While qualified translators handle your translation needs, you can focus on what you do best and devote your time, energy, and expertise to more pressing issues. As a result, you won't waste time thinking about how you'll get your documents translated and who will do it for you. You locate one highly competent individual and have confidence that they will supply you with accurate and perfect translation services.

What to consider while looking for a translation agency

Before moving forward, ask yourselves the following questions:

●    What exactly are you looking to have translated?
●    Which languages would you like to translate into?
●    Is it jargon-heavy or technical in nature, or is it more general?
●    What is the intended audience for this content?

You'll have a better idea of what questions to ask your multilingual service(s) provider if you've answered those questions yourself. The following list might help you with your translation needs better:

a) Is the translation company certified and/or accredited?

The ISO9001 and ISO 17100 certification programmes are the industry standard for certification. For sensitive or mission-critical document translation, only use translation services that are both 9001 and 17100 accredited.
Active membership in organisations such as the Association of Translation Companies (ATC) or the Globalization and Localization Association (G LA) is another indicator of quality, dependability, and attention to detail (GALA). If you're unsure, don't be afraid to ask!

b) Do they have a location in your target market or region?

Choose an online translation agency with at least one US & Canada office if you need translation into English for the NORAM market. Look for a provider with a German office if you require a translation into German. Ideally, your project manager should be a long-term resident of your target market, if not a native speaker. Needless to say, a translation service provider with an office in the country of your target market will make for even better localization quality

c) Is this a translation agency specialising in specific languages, or is translation just a side business?

If you only need a one-time translation, this is less critical, but if you need to establish a long-term relationship with such online translation services professionals, be sure they are truly specialists. Working with a more generic service will almost certainly result in poor translation. They may lack the necessary skill set to reach your target demographic effectively.

d) Has the translation agency worked in your industry or profession before?

Whatever specialized field or niche market your company operates in, you'll almost certainly be able to discover an online translation services provider who has worked in, or is at least familiar with that specialization, niche, or sector. If you ask for case studies of similar work they've completed or even client referrals in your industry, a professional service will not be insulted.

e) Take a look at how they select their translators

They should have a well-documented QMS Quality Management System if they are ISO 9001 and 17100 certified. As part of maintaining such certifications, this should be audited regularly. Please request a copy of their vetting requirements, as well as proof that they meet them under accreditation. Expect the translation agency to use native speakers of your target language(s) with at least five years of subject-matter experience as a bare minimum.
 
f) Do the quality assurance and customer review processes at the translation agency meet all ISO requirements?

Verifying that all content has been translated, doing segment testing on any localized online content, and confirming that all special instructions have been followed are examples of high-quality QA processes. If mistakes or issues are discovered, they should be documented as incidents and reported to the project manager(s). Suppose the client has workers or representatives in-country. In that case, they should check that any jargon or industry-specific language has been appropriately and sensitively translated, with input going back to the translators.

g) Is the translation firm using the most up-to-date terminology management software?

Translation memory technologies are used to ensure that documents with moderate to high levels of repetition are translated consistently. This increases accuracy and reliability while also lowering costs. Most agencies have a TM system, but make sure the one you choose has a well-documented, well-managed TM system you can trust, otherwise the same translation error may be repeated dozens of times throughout the project.

h) Do they have a back translation reconciliation system in place?
Note that to ensure that no errors have been made & all subtle shades of meaning are addressed, industry quality standards often require that translated papers be re-translated into their original language by a second translator. Any discrepancies between the original text, translation, and back-translation should be resolved, and the initial translator and project manager should sign off on it. This reconciliation report, as well as your final document, should be available upon request.

i) Do they have translation project managers who are qualified?

A dedicated project manager — effectively combining a localization engineer and an account manager – should be assigned to you. They should be your single point of contact and a subject matter expert in the specific requirements of your project. To guarantee efficient communication, you should have access to a bilingual project manager who can talk fluently with you in your language.

j) Do they have experience with multilingual SEO if your material is published online?

Even in a single language, SEO is considered a somewhat specialized skill set. A multilingual SEO professional can provide you with an accurate translation and optimized for the best search engine results for the target-language keywords that your target market requires.

Finally, below are some of the tips to choose the best translator for your organization: 

1. Ask around for references in your network 
2. Ask about their procedures and processes
3. Consider the language combinations the agency offers
4. Consider the standards the agency has concerning its language experts
5. Assess the agency's level of service
6. Ask about their prices and deadlines
7. Find out if the agency offers other services
8. Ask if the agency uses technology and relevant tools

Key takeaway: While we understand that the process of finding a long-term translation partner can be rather time consuming, remember that you can have a hassle-free translation if you select the best translation agency that you can find. It is also worth noting that human translation excels over machine translation any day.

Language translation services have a significant role in expanding your business all around the world. If you are looking forward to building a long-term working relationship with a reliable language service provider, contact us.   

For any translation requirement/queries, drop an e-mail at [email protected] or give us a call at +91 124 2848100