3 Questions to Ask Before Hiring a Translation Agency

Gaining competitive leverage is significantly important when expanding your organization’s operations across borders. How exactly do you outdo your competitors? How do you increase your share in the global market? More importantly, how do you ensure a satisfied client base in another country when you don’t speak the language?

Hiring a professional translation and interpretation service is a key start towards business development and expansion across the globe. However, you need to be sure that the translation services provider you choose is a high quality leader in the language service industry.

Here are three questions you need to ask that will help you partner with the best translation and interpretation agency for your needs:

Q: How Is The Translation Process Handled?

While there might not be any science behind which translation agency can align perfectly with your goals, there are some primary components that the agency should offer. First, the translation service provider should appoint a dedicated project manager to your case. Ideally, the project manager should be the same person you work with on an on-going basis. In addition to this, the company should have an in-house translation team for at least one language pair, and the in-house team should not just translate documents but also edit and proofread your projects to perfection.

Q: Who Does The Translations?

The best way to ensure better than expected results from translation and localization is by hiring professionally trained and certified translators. You will notice that most leading translation service providers have native speakers of different languages as part of their teams; this ensures that the content is not just converted from one language to another, but it is completely localized and understood perfectly by the target audience.

It is important to remember here that even an accurate translation might sound confusing if not localized appropriately to the audience. Therefore, look for services that have native speakers and certified linguist son their translation teams.

Q: Do You Have References or Samples?

Remember to ask for references when looking around for translation service providers. Check to see if they have any testimonials from previous clients. Hearing what other clients have to say about the company you choose to work with can give you a better perspective on how to proceed.

In addition to this, asking for references will help you identify the areas where the company specializes in, the extent of the company’s experience and the nature of the client relationships. Also, you should always be able to ask for a sample translation of text. Any professional agency should be willing to do a brief complimentary test translation for you to review before hiring them.

Translation and interpretation agencies offer a number of diverse services; therefore, when it is time to choose your dedicated service provider, talk to them about your needs. Make sure you discuss all of your questions and concerns with your project manager, and check to ensure that you are working with a company that tailors the perfect solution for you. This way you will have a partner you can depend on in the long run. Click here for more information.