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The Right Translation Services Team for the Right Project

If you think that all translators and proofreaders are the same and can work on any type of material no matter what their background, unfortunately, you’d be mistaken. The right choice of translator and proofreader is just as important as the end product. In order to find the right translation services team for your project, here are several things to keep in mind.

A translation services team consists of a translator and a proofreader in most cases. These two linguists have native level ability in both the source and target languages. They should also ideally have a background in or expert knowledge of your subject matter. Sometimes a team is expanded to involve a community or client reviewer, depending on the company or organization. These reviewers have specialized knowledge about the specific company, product, or organization. Their purpose is to collaborate with the translation services team in order to match a company’s style or improve specialized content.

The goal of a good translation services team is to make sure the translated material is as excellent, clear, and pertinent as the original. To do this, the translator first looks through the document, in the case of document translation, and then asks the company or reviewers, usually using a translation services agency as a liaison, any questions about the material, terminology, what to translate, and what to leave in the original language. The translator also poses questions about the final audience and usage of the document. This can help the translator determine word choice, grade level, and standard terms for the document translation process.

The other half of the team is the proofreader. This expert is also a speaker of both languages and has ideally worked with the translator long enough to understand that person’s working and writing style.

There are also some other roles that might need to be filled depending on your translation services project. If your material involves an audio or video section that needs transcription and then translation, there are teams who specialize in exactly that type of work. A translation services agency can also help you work with localization experts who can help test your Web site material and advise you about cultural and linguistic changes to improve the comprehension of your site by your target audience.

When deciding which translation suppliers to use for which material, translation services agencies look at the supplier’s career background and education, years of experience as a translator, and what the translator’s special interests and talents are. For example, if an English to Spanish translator has spent several years working as a K12 teacher or administrator, they would be a good match for an education related document translation, as with a student rights and responsibilities manual. A translator or proofreader who has a good amount of experience working with Limited English Proficient K12 students would be perfect to work on education translations.

When using a translation services team for the first time, it’s good practice for a translation agency to evaluate the quality of this new work over several projects by having trusted, longtime translation services teams give their opinions and feedback. Also, translators and proofreaders who are working with a new client for the first time will be sure to ask plenty of questions about the material. They will also go through the translation memory to make sure that they’re familiar with the terminology likely to figure in, say, a particular document translation.

A good translation services agency will try to use one translation team with a client or organization as often as possible. This is the best way for a translation services team to become familiar with style and terminology. If there are heavy client-specific terms and style, a particular team can help the client and translation agency develop a style guide and glossary. This team will also maintain a translation memory that can easily be passed on to another translation services team if necessary.

Another benefit to having one translation team is their ability to accurately review document translations in desktop publishing formats. This is because the original translation services team is very familiar with how the material might look when set up as a finished document. They can spot linguistic or even formatting mistakes introduced by a desktop publishing team because they’ve looked at the material so many times before in the course of the document translation. As always, please allow some time in the schedule to have the reviewers thoroughly review the desktop published version of your material.

When there are comments or feedback from reviewers and end users, a translation services agency will go back to the original team and let them know what should be improved for the next project. In some cases, a second translation services team is consulted to get their opinion of the first team’s quality on that particular project.

The best way to choose translators is to let your account managers at your most trusted translation services agency help you choose the best team based on your information about the product’s target audience and on how much specialized knowledge is needed.

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