Select Your Translation
Service Provider

15 High Important Steps for Selecting Your Translation Provider

checklist

Translation Provider – Translation Agency

Maybe you have been working with a translation service provider or a translation agency for years, and things are not going how you want them to go. You need to get some fresh air and some bright ideas for your translation projects. Of course, there are a lot of translation service providers/translation agencies on the planet. So, it is hard to make a choice.

Simply choosing a translation agency is not the way to go. This is something too important to decide. But which decisions would you have to make?

You must know the selection criteria to choose your translation agency provider. If you are a start-up company, your selection criteria are unknown as you do not have experience with any other translation agency. If this is the case, you can download our checklist. This checklist will certainly help you to find the correct translation provider .

There are so many different criteria’s that you have to watch for. Let’s take one example, which is CAT tools. What are CAT tools? A CAT tool is the technology that a translation provider uses to build a translation memory for a client.

Now, what is a translation memory? A translation memory is a database where the agency keeps all the already translated sentences with the source text saved. When you as a company have a new translation, the translation agency takes the translation memory. It analyses the old translated text against the latest translated text, and if sentences are already translated, it gives a match.

In that case, you can save a lot of money as sentences that are already translated or are partly translated are offered against a reduced translation rate. And that can save you a lot of money when you regularly have texts for translation.

translation service provider
awarded top translation company

How do you find the best translation service provider?

There are many translation service providers on the internet, all claiming to offer professional translation services. They offer the best translation services, are open 24 hours a day, and offer over 500 languages. So, how can one choose the best company to work with?

We have created a list, which can be downloaded below, giving you the most essential tips. Download the list for free, and you’ll be able to find out who will offer you the best translation services.

Don’t forget to search on Google for reviews people have given for the translation service provider. At the end, you will get a good overview of the price of translation services, the languages they offer and how well they are rated for their professional translation services.

What you need to look for when selecting your translation provider

Choosing the best translation provider to work with can be tricky with so many options available, but here, we have made the job easier by mentioning the criteria to choose the best option. You need to ensure that the service provider carefully coordinates every professional translation project so that the final output meets your objectives. This requires an in-depth analysis of several vital elements about the translator agency you opt for.

Following these 15 steps below, you can easily choose the translation service provider to complete your job. Generally speaking, any firm with security affirmations, experience, a vast variety of expert translators and a good response from its clients is the firm that has more chances of delivering a quality output. You must also check that the translation agency you opt for offers translators with sector-specific experience. You might come across a lot of options on the internet, but when you filter the options with the criteria mentioned below, it will surely make it very easy for you to come to the best translation service provider that will get your job done with high quality and at a decent price.

choose translation agency

The most important steps for choosing your translation service provider are:

how-many-years

Check out how many years they have been in business. Experience is essential not only because the translations would be of better quality but also because an experienced company has dealt with any documents, so they can properly understand your requirements.

native-translators

Do they work with native translators? Do they only allow translators to translate only in their native language? How do they select the translators? We have 8-core criteria to choose professional translators, and they should have something similar to ensure accuracy.

how-innovative

Check how innovative they are. You want to take advantage of a well-established translation project management platform for your projects and benefit from it. You may also want to see if they train or assist their translators when needed.

24-7

Can you rely on them only at certain times, or are they open 24 hours a day, seven days a week? Necessary not only for the flexibility in the delivery of your translations but also when fast services are needed; the faster they reply, the quicker they will be able to set up your project.

prices

What about their translation prices? How is the price set up for all translation services they provide? Do they charge differently for different languages? Do they charge per word or page? Are they offering to use memory tools to cut your costs?

human translators

Does the translation agency work only with human translators, or is machine translation involved in any of the steps? Are translators assigned based on experience in the field of your document? Let us stress this again: are they using machines to translate?

extra rates

Are there any hidden charges or add-on rates for speed, rush or extra services like proofreading? Is there a minimum fee you need to pay? Are all costs mentioned explicitly in the free quote, and there won’t be extra charges for final revisions? Do they even give free quotes?

cat tools

If you found the above points helpful, you will surely need our complete list, where there are many other points you should keep in mind when choosing your translation service provider. Want the whole list? Download it below in .pdf format with check-boxes, ready to be printed!

Download the whole checklist for free!

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safety is important

Safety is of extreme importance.

Now that we have discussed all the essential points you should consider while choosing a translation agency let us make an important point about the document you are getting translated right now.

You may think this is just your birth certificate or only your passport. However, that doesn’t mean the document is prone to theft. Safety is essential whether you are getting an office document translated for your company, getting your boss’s documents translated or getting your documents translated.

Do not distribute your documents to all translation agencies because you want a comparison quote. That is dangerous and highly unadvisable. You have to make sure that you evaluate the agencies without sharing your documents with them.

In the modern world, identity theft is a trade, and it is conducted on a mass scale. People’s private data is shared for a price, and if you do not become the client of a translation agency, they are not obligated to guard your data. You are not their responsibility.

Find ways of assessing a translation service provider without sharing your document. If you have to share a report with them, share a sample similar to the material you want translated and ask them to quote on that document. They will find all the assessing factors in that document. Make it clear to the agency that this is not the original document but a similar one. They will say they cannot guarantee that they will quote the same price for the original document. That is not an issue; you get the essential quote, which is enough.

5 Questions to Ask Yourself Before Choosing a Translation Service Provider:

Many translation agencies today offer translation services, but to find the right one, you must ask the right questions. When you find a translation service provider and you aren’t sure whether or not they are the right choice, you should ask yourself the five questions listed below and then make your decision based on the answers:

TRANSLATION-PROVIDER-QUESTIONS

Does this Translation Service Provider Do the Translation I Require?

Translation has various types. All kinds of translations require different expertise, from legal to business and certified to notarized. If you need certified translation and the service provider you choose only has business translation experts, you must pay for something useless. So before you select a translation service provider, you must confirm that they provide the exact service you require. You can either check the details on that agency’s website or contact them and ask them about certified translation experts directly. Once you are sure they provide the service you seek, you can hire them.

 

How Much Will They Charge Me?

Translation rates vary with translation types and the length of the document that you need to translate. But despite the little differences, translation rates don’t have huge differences. If the translation service provider you choose charges a huge sum for translating a simple document, you have not come to the right place. All the professional translation agencies will provide high-quality translations at affordable rates. So before hiring them for a translation, ask a translation agency how much they will charge you. If they offer you reasonable rates, then you should go for it.

Are Their Translations Reliable?

This is a tricky question. Online reviews exist for a reason: to let others know about the quality of a service. If you want to know about a service provider, look them up online and see what others say. If their online reputation is good, they are doing their job. But if a translation service provider does not have good online reviews, you should not select them for translating your documents.

 

Will Native Translators Translate My Documents?

If you have been running a business for some time, you will have realized by now how difficult some translations can be. If you don’t pick native translators for these translations, you will have inaccurate translations. Some translation agencies take shortcuts and choose inexperienced translators who fail to understand the complexities of some languages. If you regularly need translations of complex languages, you should pick a translation service provider like UTS with native translators on its team.

How Much of Your Time Will They Take?

Some translation service providers don’t care about their customers. They place their gains above everything else. They take as long as they want for translations and reply late to their customers. If you want good translations and customer service, go for the translation service providers who place their customers’ comfort above everything else. They not only provide translations in a short time but are also available 24/7 to answer all the queries of their customers.

RELIABLE-TRANSLATIONS

Tips to avoid problems when selecting your translation provider and buying translation services

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