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3 Tips For Buying Translation Services Like A Pro

September 12, 2016

Buyers of translation services, especially commercial and professional organizations that have an ongoing need for language services, will benefit by keeping the following 3 tips in mind when ordering translation services. 1) Specify the Target Audience Before the project begins, as an input for the translator take just a minute or two to describe in writing the target audience for the […]

How To Differentiate Your Translation Business with Service

August 18, 2016

The success of your translation business depends on finding ways to favorably differentiate it. But how? Could one way be with service? Watch For Vendors You Work With That Make An Impression Numerous times a week most of us make purchases or somehow interact with people who provide us with products and/or services. Consider the quality […]

3 Tips For Buying Translation Services Like A Pro

September 12, 2016

How To Differentiate Your Translation Business with Service

August 18, 2016

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3 Tips For Buying Translation Services Like A Pro

September 12, 2016

1) Specify the Target Audience

Before the project begins, as an input for the translator take just a minute or two to describe in writing the target audience for the translation. Providing a description of the primary target audience for a translation can be helpful to translators to determine the style, approach, tone, and vocabulary.

There’s no need to write an essay. Just a line or two can be sufficient. A couple examples of a target audience description would be:

Latin American Spanish language dominant new mothers less than 35 years old living in the US. Elementary grade level reading skills.
Engineers and technical personnel with college education (Bachelors or higher).

2) Provide Preferred Translation Terminology

If you have preferred translations for some keywords and phrases then provide it upfront at the beginning of a translation project. In the absence of a terminology list translators will make their own determinations based on their personal knowledge, context, and research conducted during the course of the project.

A good practice can be to flag keywords in the source language and arrange for your translator to create a bilingual glossary or list of terminology. Ask for the bilingual glossary translations to be reviewed by a representative member of your target audience. The final approved glossary or terminology list can then be used as a resource for the entire translation project (and if appropriate future projects).

3) Establish A Relationship With Your Project Manager

Project managers are often the interface between translation agency clients and translators. Professional project managers know the wants, needs, and preferences of their clients. They also know the capabilities, specializations, and communication preferences of their translators.

Regular consumers of translation services will sooner or later need a favor. It may be with an expedited project schedule, or some specialized consulting support on a complex project, or any number of unanticipated things that can come up. Take a little time to develop some rapport with your project manager point of contact. It’ll be a worthwhile investment.

How To Differentiate Your Translation Business with Service

August 18, 2016

The success of your translation business depends on finding ways to favorably differentiate it. But how? Could one way be with service?

Watch For Vendors You Work With That Make An Impression

Numerous times a week most of us make purchases or somehow interact with people who provide us with products and/or services. Consider the quality of these interactions. Which ones stand out and why?

Our company uses a utility on our website that allows us to chat with website visitors that come to our site during business hours. The vendor recently added a new feature that allows a pop-up message to appear after a set time. On our website we invite visitors to download a free publication about buying translation services. The pop-up is a feature we’ve been testing.

We wanted to include an image of the publication in the pop-up but weren’t sure how to make it work. We sent a casual message to the vendor asking if it might be a feature they’ll add in the future. We received their response within a short time with instructions (the exact customized html code) to use to include our document’s cover image within the website pop-up. We didn’t expect that. We were surprised (and delighted).

Some Ways To Differentiate Translation Businesses with Service

Our company regularly tries to favorably differentiate our translation business with service. Here are a few perhaps obvious but still potentially powerful ways:

Responding to quote requests and other client communications quickly. Really fast.
Consulting with clients on ways to lower their costs.
Working to streamline processes with repeat clients (i.e., speed project throughputs while reducing unnecessary stress).
Setting up projects for translation as a courtesy (e.g., extracting text within graphics into Excel or another editable format).
Occasionally calling in a favor with our translators to expedite a time sensitive project.

Clients will often indicate which types of service attention they value most. Sometimes they’ll state it directly (e.g., “I really need this back by Wednesday.”). Other times they’ll be less direct (e.g., “I wish there was a way to make this work better.”).

Listen closely to clients and they’ll often tell you or provide an indication as to what aspect of service they value most.

Half Sized Blog Element (Single Author Style)

Half Sized Blog Element (Multi Author Style)

3 Tips For Buying Translation Services Like A Pro

How To Differentiate Your Translation Business with Service

3 Tips For Buying Translation Services Like A Pro

How To Differentiate Your Translation Business with Service

Full Sized Blog Element (Big Preview Pic)

3 Tips For Buying Translation Services Like A Pro

1) Specify the Target Audience

2) Provide Preferred Translation Terminology

3) Establish A Relationship With Your Project Manager

How To Differentiate Your Translation Business with Service

Watch For Vendors You Work With That Make An Impression

Some Ways To Differentiate Translation Businesses with Service

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Translation Services Buyers Guide