Improving Your Company’s Competitive Advantage with Professional Translation

Access to quality translators is crucial for any company with international customers or clients. Utilizing the services of a professional translation agency is among the best courses of action to cultivate and nurture that highly sought after competitive advantage. Whereas many companies manage their translations with in-house bilingual staff, simple online translator tools, and word documents and spreadsheets, the short-term cost savings do not offset the long-term poor quality translation.

Professional translation agencies seek to overcome language, dialect, and customs barriers. Agencies such as ours seek to seamlessly integrate people, technology, and language translation services to ensure our clients have access to high-quality translations and are able to keep abreast in an increasingly globalized world. Businesses whose target audiences are international require high-quality translation services to remove geographic barriers, and cultivating a long-term professional partnership with a professional translation agency provides myriad benefits. Here is a step-by-step guide for improving your company’s competitive advantage with professional translations.

Benefits of Outsourcing Translation

For many companies, hiring a full-time translation staff is neither wise nor cost-effective. Outsourcing translation to a quality professional translation agency provides a number of benefits an in-house staff cannot, such as:

• Access to experienced professional translators
• Access to accurate translators
• Competitive rates
• Easy online access
• Time zone advantages

Key Reasons for Outsourcing Translation Services

There are five fundamental reasons underscoring the necessity for using a professional translation agency.

1. Experience

Professional translation agencies have a wealth of experience that comes from working with various companies on similar projects. Perhaps most importantly, these professionals are familiar with and conversant in the everyday language used by their customers. They are thoroughly knowledgeable regarding colloquialisms, cultural connotations, and other nuances that less experienced translators may not understand.

2. Resources

Professional translation agencies typically have access to a large pool of professional translators and linguists who are available as needed, on demand, and in the case of special projects that may arise.

3. Consistency

For translation companies that rely upon internal translation, when staff leaves or when products change, these actions impact the company as a whole, and one of the first areas affected is translation. Language inconsistency breeds confusion and, in some cases, dissatisfaction with the agency itself. To address this potential pitfall, language standardization is crucial. Such standardization is accomplished by using specific terminology, creating glossaries, and establishing a uniform style and tone of voice to ensure consistency. Highly adept professional translation agencies can ensure that this occurs.

4. Efficiency

Establishing an effective working relationship with a translation agency improves efficiency because these companies guarantee high-quality translation services, quicker output, flexibility, and are also more cost-effective in the long run. Professional agencies also regularly update processes and tools to ensure high quality while also improving time and cost savings, thus providing a competitive edge for client companies.

5. Tools

In addition to having access to the aforementioned resources, professional translation agencies possess a large repertoire of tools for translation projects that goes well beyond simple copying/pasting and spreadsheets. Among the most beneficial tools are translation memories and machine translation. Both tools require significant financial outlays but end up being highly cost-effective in the long run. Professional translation companies have the necessary wherewithal to purchase and utilize to the best of their abilities these tools. Ultimately, the increased prowess results in cost savings for the customers.

Choosing the Best Translation Service Provider

The decision is made to use the services of a professional translation agency, but how does one go about selecting the best fit for his or her business?

• Visit translation service providers online and compile a list of the ten best companies
• Ensure the companies offer translation in the language needed
• Compare services provided among agencies
• Call the agency to verify translators’ certifications and experience, services, time frames, and to obtain testimonials
• Provide potential agencies a few pages of text for translation to get an idea of their quality of work

All of these advantages make it a rather simple decision to seek the assistance of a professional translation agency. Please contact us to learn how our high-quality translation services can give your organization the competitive advantage it seeks.