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Translation Buying Guide

Overview | How It Works | What it costs
Choosing | Advantages | Disadvantages | Things to Watch

Things to watch out for

Aside from the disadvantages already mentioned, there are a number of things you should be aware of as regards translation services:

Know the quality you need. If you only want to get the general idea of the content, use a freelancer. If you're after the highest quality, a translation company.
Be certain to use native speakers.
Give your translator as much time as possible. Time pressure induces mistakes. Try to avoid the trouble, expense and risk involved with rush jobs. Build translation into your project deadlines.
Submit final, approved original text for translation and check facts before the document goes to translation. Equally, submit full documents, not bits and pieces, for translation.
Check technical and industry specific terms with the translator. Frequently, words have different meanings in other languages. Discuss this with your translator and provide translations of obscure technical terms, your organization's special jargon and titles whenever possible.
Ask for a glossary of technical terms. This will ensure the consistency of future projects.
Make sure the translator keeps a copy of previous work in order to maintain consistency.
For the same reason, avoid unnecessary, frequent changes of translators.
Get references and a sample of work.
Especially on technical and long-term projects but also on general jobs, provide as much information as possible. The more information you give, the better the work you will get back. Next to the reason for the translation and the intended audience, provide:
a) reference material. If graphic information, for example, was useful to the person who wrote the document, it will be useful to the translator as well.
b) any in-house style guidelines.
c) bi-lingual terminology glossaries (perhaps accumulated from previous translations).
Name someone who will be able to answer the translator's specific queries - ideally the author of the document. Provide and ask for phone and fax numbers, and e-mail addresses. Good translators ask questions. This does not mean they are ignorant - it means they know when to consult you about concepts and terminology that only you can explain.