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Marcela Jenney
President, Contextual Communications |
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Welcome to Contextual Insider, the electronic newsletter for Contextual's global customers and friends. Here you'll find useful and interesting information about Contextual Communications, Inc. your source for high-quality translations and interpretation, localization, globalization, and project solutions and management around the world to support business, industry and global trade.
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How to be a savvy
translation consumer |
Your company has finally decided to sell your products or services in the international market, and you were just given the green light to begin the needed task of translation. For non-linguists, buying translation or interpretation services can be a source of frustration.
First, let's start with the goal in mind. How do you want to be perceived in the marketplace? Is “OK” good enough?
If you are trying to sell or persuade, or if image is important in your business, an unpolished translation will definitely not be enough.
So…why not do it yourself? What about translation software?
Contextual Communications, Inc. offers tips and suggestions that will help answer these questions and reduce the stress of finding a linguistic partner.
Something to consider…
When you deliver a professionally translated product, it should not be apparent to your customers that the content they are reading or the product they are holding has been translated from one language into another. A properly translated product has the look and feel of having been created specifically for that target market.
Avoid the temptation of doing it yourself.
Speaking is not writing. Oral fluency does not guarantee smooth, professional writing. Even if you regularly negotiate successfully in Portuguese, French, or Spanish and spend time in those countries where those languages are spoken, 9 times out of 10 your written
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command of a foreign language will still be immediately recognized as “foreign.”
What about translation software?
If you are pressed for time and just want the gist of something for your own use, translation software might be useful. It is certainly fast and free, but it won't be accurate enough for your business.
What to know before you “hire a translator” – be ready to answer some questions.
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What is the purpose of this translation?
Be sure to tell us what the translation is for, so that we can prepare a foreign language version with maximum impact for that particular audience and medium.
What is the word count of the document?
Most translation projects are billed by the word, plus this number will also affect the turnaround time.
What is the subject matter of the text?
Translators specialize in different subjects, so we need to make sure we find the right translator for your project.
What language(s) will you need the document translated from and into, and do those languages have regional variations?
Do you need Portuguese for Brazil or Portugal Spanish for Spain or Mexico
What format are the original documents in?
Electronic files speed up the translation process. Make sure you tell us if the document involves complex formatting or graphics with captions that will need to be translated.
What services, other than translation, might you need?
We provide multilingual desktop publishing, graphic services and interpretation services.
What is your deadline? What is your budget?
Savvy translation consumers will do some advance work in preparing the specifications for their translation projects. Accurate and realistic decisions about timeline, cost, and quality must be made prior to project start. By answering the above questions you will be able to define the scope of your project and thereby ensure that your expectations are met. |
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| Questions to ask prospective translation vendors |
Most reputable translation agencies have comprehensive websites explaining their translation process, quality control, references and payment terms. Visit us at www.contextualinc.com
Here are a few questions you might want to ask to make sure you are contacting an experienced translation agency.
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·How long has your agency been in business?
·Who are some of your regular clients?
·How many employees do you have?
·Do you use freelance translators, in-house translators, or both?
·Are you a member of any professional association for language companies?
·How do you screen and evaluate your freelance translators?
·Do you test them?
·Are your translators certified in their language pairs?
·Are all your translators native speakers of their target language?
·Have you handled projects in this subject area before?
·Can you provide samples and references from those projects?
·Have you worked with translators in our needed language pairs before?
·If not, how will you recruit and screen translators in our needed language pairs?
·What will your company need to do to prepare our project for translation?
·What kind of computer systems do you have?
·Do you have a high speed Internet connection?
·Do you have an ftp for large files?
·Do you use Translation Memory programs?
·Do you have daily computer backups?
·Do you have off-site computer backups?
·What is your usual turnaround time for a project of this length?
·If we need the project faster, will we need to pay overtime or rush charges?
·Will our translations be edited and proofread?
·Do you provide desktop publishing or graphics?
·Are you available for revisions after completion of the project? |
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