It is not enough to have a professional translation service at your disposal for business growth. You should also know how to make the most of it so you can get your money’s worth.
After all, you are paying for the service and you need a high return on your investment. Here are a few ways you can maximize the value of professional translation services.
1. Set Your Expectations from the Start
If you need translation services for your daily internal operations, and there is high volume, you might assume you don’t need the perfection you would demand for a public facing document. However, you should set expectations from the start that the translation at least will have been reviewed and proofread.
2. Create a Different Strategy for Each Language
The truth is that not all languages will be equally important to your business. Each will have different:
• Website traffic patterns
• Revenues
• Conversion rates
For these reasons, you must prioritize languages that have a wide audience and a large market. Once the main markets have been addressed, only then focus on the languages that have a smaller market share. Direct your efforts where they will reap the most profit.
3. Translate Content in Big Chunks
Getting content translated piecemeal will add overhead time, increase the expense, and you could miss important growth opportunities in the market. Translators normally work with a minimum charge per project, even if small, and each new submission for translation requires a set up process, production steps, and review steps.
Translating your content one big chunk at a time will help you reduce overhead costs. Planning potential additional uses for your translations further reduces cost.
Setting up the content in reusable segments for later utilization can be valuable, and there are even content management software solutions to help you manage your original and translated text. A segment of text may have use in a press release, emails, blogs, brochures, or even social media.
4. Always Focus on Quality
Quality should not be compromised and should always be your top priority. Your clients value full understanding of your offerings.
Ensure that the translation service is producing high-quality work for you. Be thorough and review important documents such as marketing copies, legal documentation, and user manuals yourself.
Even if you don’t know the language yourself, you can see if the format is carefully done and tracks the original, and that each element of the original has an equivalent element in the translation. Is one left justified and the other centered? Are there any omissions? Is the numbering of clauses consistent with the original? If there are discrepancies, have a linguist dig deeper and ensure any discrepancies are resolved, and the full document reviewed.
Final Words
Your work doesn’t stop at hiring a professional translation service. You need to maximize your investment and ensure you are getting quality work and a high ROI from your translation budget. If you want a professional translation service, feel free to get in touch with us now.
Find Us On