If your business is expanding into new countries, or you simply want to target new languages or markets, the need for a professional translation agency is so very important, as failing to translate your content or marketing material correctly will lead to you losing sales, not gaining any.
Sloppy translation, lazy translation and inaccurate translation is never going to do you or your company any real favours, as if you just go for a quick, cheap and normally automated translation service, the results are just not going to be the same as if you use a company that has native speakers and professional translation experts. Like any industry or service, it is there for a reason, and if there was not a decent demand for it then the many firms operating in the industry would no longer exist.
Common reasons why businesses need translation include:
- Marketing Material Translations
- Website Content Translation
- Audio / Video Translation
- International SEO / Content Marketing
- Inbound / Outbound Enquiry Translation
And probably many more reasons beside the ones list above, but when the time comes that your company or business needs the help of a translation agency, it is of course also the moment where the challenge sets in as to how to find the right one for you to work with.
With so many translation firms in the UK, it can be a challenge to find the best one to work with, as you might decide you want to go with a local company or you may be happy to do everything over the phone and email, but no matter which route you take, you will still end up with a shortlist of firms to work your way through. When you end up with a list of 5 or 10 potential agencies you are looking at getting a quote from, it is really important to ask a few questions to help not only remove some from the list but to also make sure that you are getting a fair comparison of the potential candidates that you might choose to work with.
Key Questions To Ask
Can They Meet Your Time Scale
If you are on a tight deadline or you need to get a project completed and out of the door, you need to make sure that they can accommodate your work, else there is little point in asking any further questions going forward. There is little point in asking the questions we go onto discuss below if they simply cannot turn your work around in the time you need them to, so quite often, this is the first question you should be thinking of asking before you even go any further.
How Do They Charge
Some translation companies charge per word, some per 1000 words and some per project, and there are probably many more variations of charges out there as well. By finding out how they are going to charge will help you to work out whether the project is going to be cost effective and will then allow you to get prices back from all of your potential firms that you can easily compare and make an accurate price related decision on.
Do They Have The Correct Translators
If you need your content translated into Chinese, but the company only has German, Spanish and Russian translators, then you have a slight issue to say the least and this is probably not going to work so well. It is really important to make sure that the translation agency can accommodate your required language, as if they cannot, there is once again little point going ahead and finding out any more information, as not all translation firms cover all languages, with some specialising in just three or four.
Can They Share Previous Examples Of Work
Previous examples of similar work in terms of scale or language is going to be really useful, as although you many not fully understand how accurate the work is, it will at least give you a chance to see what the agency can do and the kind of work they produce. It will also give you some comfort in the fact that they can indeed deliver your project, and of course that they do have the correct level of translators working for their agency.
Will They Provide Customer Feedback
Of course, if you have 100 customers then you will hopefully be able to provide a few good references, but although you should take these with a pinch of salt and use them as part of your decision and not solely rely on them, previous customer reviews and feedback can shine a torch light on just how good the company is. It is even better if you can get related customer feedback in terms of projects or languages similar to yours, but even just understanding what previous customer’s think of the agency is well worth knowing.
This article is brought to you by Brightlines Translation, a company that offers translation services for many languages and projects, including document, video, audio and marketing material translation services.