The translation of technical documents, website content and marketing materials is a necessity for some projects, but it is often a cost that’s overlooked by UK businesses of every size. By the time you realise the importance of translation in the successful delivery of the project, most of the budget will be accounted for and you’ll want to spend it as little as possible to get it done. Sound familiar?
With 17 years’ experience in business translation and transcreation, we’ve picked up a few tips along the way to help you keep the cost of your translations down, while still receiving top quality work.
1. Fail to prepare, prepare to fail
Preparing your business translation project in advance and getting everything in place early will not only help to keep the costs down, but it will also reduce the turnaround times of the translations. Planning in advance allows you to do your research and find a provider you can trust (did we mention we work for organisations like Santander, Orange and Manchester United?), rather than digging around at the last minute and turning to the first translation team you can find.
This will give you the time to get all the relevant documents and information together, as the more information you can provide about the project, the more accurate the quote will be. You should also ensure that any documents you send us are the final copies, as any changes to the source materials during or after the translation process will inevitably add to the cost.
2. Get the documents to be translated in order
Over the years we have found it’s beneficial if you can spend an hour or so preparing the documents for translation before you send them to our team. To do this you should:
- Proofread the copy to remove any mistakes or typos and make sure it is clear and concise;
- Remove anything that is unnecessary or does not need to be translated for the intended target market – this includes references to UK culture, such as place names and phone numbers etc;
- Check you have enough white space for the translated document, which means having some understanding of how the translated text will expand or contract.
3. Send us the original documents
Sending us the original documents for your business translation means we do not have to spend time extracting the text and re-creating layouts. Documents that can be more difficult to work with include:
- PDFs – It can take time extracting the text for translation and recreating the desired layout in Word. We can access a wide variety of files, so if you do have access to the original document, please send it over to our team.
- Faxed and scanned documents – This type of document can present its own problems as the copies we receive can be grainy and difficult to read.
- JPEGs and PNGs – When translating graphics and illustrations it is usually easier if we can access the original Photoshop (.psd) or CorelDraw (.cdr) file. The result is a faster and cheaper business translation.
4. Find a quality provider
You may well be able to find some dirt cheap translators out there, but in the translation sector you really get what you pay for. There’s nothing to stop someone with no qualifications or very little experience setting up as a translator. If you get a number of quotes and one of them is significantly cheaper, you probably need to ask why.
In the translation industry, there is a price under which it is impossible to deliver a high quality business translation. If you do receive a really cheap quote, it’s likely the company is using translators who are unqualified and sometimes not even native speakers. The result is a translation that is riddled with errors. You then have to pay twice to get the translation either repaired or completely redone.
How can we help?
Choosing a translator based solely on price is a false economy. At Linguistica International, we work with you to put all the necessary preparations in place to keep the cost of your business translation down. To discuss your project or for a quote, please call 02392 987 765 or email: info@linguistica-international.com today.