Looking for a professional translation company? Excellent, you’re going to benefit greatly from this amazing service which could catapult your business from local or national to international. Of course, for that to happen, you need to choose the correct company to work with. There are so many available to choose from, it will be easy to find one right?
Many companies find it harder than they realise to find a professional translation company. There are a few reasons for this, but mainly, it’s simply because there are so many to choose from, and if you haven’t used one before, it isn’t that easy to know what to look for.
With professional translation, the needs of the customer will always vary greatly. This means it is always important for a company to consider what they need to look for in a professional translation company. Of course, we have some excellent general suggestions below to get your started, but the very first point, and most important point, is to remember, that your company’s individual needs will differ from that of another company, and translation services vary hugely, so always consider both your general needs and your individual needs when looking for a professional translation company.
Here are a few key things to look for in a professional translation company, from Neil Gauld, owner of Brightlines Translation Services:
In-House Services
It is so important you dig a little deeper when asking about the company’s processes. You do not want to be in a situation where you are working with a company who claims to be ‘the works’ when actually they just pass your work on to an outsourced translator who they might not really know at all. Look for a company that does everything in house, or if they do outsource for specific things, it is for a specific reason like expert help with niche areas of expertise. You want to be dealing with that company, their team and their customer service.
Expert Experts
Look for the company to have a good selection of experts at their fingertips. This company should have connections and the ability to connect you with people who have various technical abilities. Don’t just accept the terms ‘qualified’ and ‘trained’ and try to find out exactly what their qualifications are and what they have been trained in and more importantly, the languages that they really specialise in.
Trust
There is a huge amount of trust involved when you use a professional translation company. Your information is being handled by them. How confidential is it? Check every person dealing with your documents has been checked out and has signed a confidentiality agreement. Can you trust the company to deal with complaints quickly? Can you trust them to solve issues within your deadlines? Ask a lot of questions but also get a feel for the people, sometimes you can get a sense of honesty just by talking to people. If they aren’t appearing to be honest with you from the outset, you may struggle with trust later on down the line.
Capacity & Ability
It may be that the company you want to use simply cannot grow ‘with you’ over time, or perhaps they don’t have the specific expertise you need. For these reasons, you must ensure once you like a company, that you ask detailed questions about their capacity, and speak to them about potential scenarios or demands that might crop up. Transparency is so important, don’t be afraid to talk about potential scenarios that might occur in the future.
It Is Worth The Time
Remember, it might seem like there’s no need to think so carefully about this decision, but if you spend just a few minutes thinking about how much a professional translation company could benefit your business, it will be easy to see why it is so important you choose the right one.
