When I initial starting working inside the translation industry and was tasked with prospecting for new clients, one particular of my frequent introductions would often be… ‘we present high good quality translations’. Normally this was met with slightly blank expressions – and rightly so as not numerous translation service providers would lay claim to supplying poor excellent translations. I quickly realised that this approach, and specifically the use of the word ‘quality’, was not greatest suited to prospecting for new consumers. The cause I was so keen to use this word whilst approaching new clients was mainly because of the effect I had see it had in the course of my education, exactly where I had observed a prospect switch to our business mainly because of the “poor good quality” translations they had received elsewhere. In my thoughts the most important purpose consumers would decide on a specific provider was down to quality. Whilst I nonetheless believe this to be the case in several circumstances, other components such as value, reputation, and ability to deliver the correct service can be equally critical.
Excellent, on the other hand, is still a really significant element when deciding on your translation provider. The dilemma comes when attempting to evaluate high quality. Typically, 1 of the issues that face purchasers of translation services is the primary explanation they are utilizing the services of a supplier in the 1st location and that is that they do not have the capabilities or capabilities in property for a particular language. In contrast to most business enterprise services the high-quality of the operate, as a result, can’t be validated the moment the work is delivered. This validation typically comes as soon as the perform is published. This can be a costly exercising in testing, particularly if the outcomes are that the perform is of a poor regular or, worse still, damages the reputation of the company that has published the perform.
So how can you make sure that when you commission a translation service provider you are going to acquire a good quality translation and how do you go about measuring this? This post looks at the issue of good quality inside the translation business and examines the techniques in which purchasers can evaluate the excellent of the translations they get.
For many years, the language service business has theorised on how to define a good quality translation. Most generally applied to explain what a excellent translation must be is that it meets and exceeds the customer’s expectation of good quality. This is a superior typical to adhere to, even so, the difficulty comes in determining what will meet or exceed the customer’s expectation of excellent. Company X’s understanding of (or needs for) high quality may be incredibly different from company Y’s. It is very important when commissioning translation that all parties involved in the process (the buyer, supplier, the translator, and so on.) are fully aware of what the expectation of quality is. A useful physical exercise prior to confirming the assignment is to build a portfolio of examples and samples of very good translations that can be supplied to the language service provider. This can be utilised as a semi-style guide for the translator undertaking the assignment. It can also be helpful to involve examples of poor high-quality translations to help make your needs more explicit. These samples can act as a benchmark to evaluate completed translations. If you are at a stage where you are determining which language service provider you will be employing, it can also be quite useful to commission a sample or test piece of the text to determine the expected level of excellent. In the end, communicating your needs and ensuring that they are understood will drastically improve the probability of receiving a quality translation.
General, when you analyse the high-quality of translation operate you are assessing three particular elements that make up the translation approach the agency, the translator and the actual translation itself. Firstly, you will need to appear at the method the language service provider utilizes in terms of managing the function. There are a number of European and worldwide standards that provide guidance for translation organizations when it comes to processing work. The most widely applied of these is BS EN 15038. Even so, just simply because a company has accomplished a certain standard or follows specific guidelines, there is no guarantee that they will give a quality translation. As talked about above, a helpful physical exercise if to ask the supplier to deliver a test piece of their perform. Alternatively, ask to see a sample of work they really feel illustrates their high-quality. On top of that, testimonials or references should also be sought from happy customers.
Equally essential as the agency is who they commission to undertake the actual translation. It is important to know how qualified the translator is to carry out the activity. This will not only be linguistic qualifications, but also relevant experience and further qualifications in their precise region of expertise. It would also be wise to confirm that the translator is a mother tongue linguist and their nation of residence. With translations that are expected for publication it is also a good thought to have a second mother tongue linguist verify the function for errors and omissions, syntax and style. If https://oriontranslations.com/sworn-translations/ with an agent in the country exactly where the translation will be made use of it is also a very good thought to have the agent read by way of the work. When all is mentioned and carried out, the client and their agent will often know far more about their business enterprise than the translator and the agent may possibly like to make some ideas, specially if they will be utilizing the translation as a marketing tool as it is crucial that they feel comfortable with it. Any self-respecting translation company need to be a lot more than willing to operate with the agent to obtain the preferred outcome and incorporate any ideas into the translation.