Are you thinking about expanding to a foreign market and need translation services? Have you been thinking about cutting costs and using Google Translate instead? Maybe assigning this type of job to your native-speaker co-worker or looking for a freelance translator by yourself?
I would recommend reviewing your decision and thinking about the following reasons, so you can make the best possible decision for your future business success.
Bad translations will make your brand look bad
If you search the internet you will find thousands of examples, sometimes quite funny ones, of how Google Translate can go wrong. Of course, it is not as hilarious if the content is taken from your website and has, as a result, become part of an internet joke, turning away new clients due to misinterpretation errors or complete lack of accuracy.
Machine translation can be useful if you are travelling and need to order some food in a restaurant abroad, but using it to place your services or products and reach foreign clients could be very problematic to say the least. It can put your brand at risk since in the best case, improper translations make your website or app look unprofessional and in the worst case, improper translations offend users in your target locale.
Using a native-speaker employee as a translator
Has it ever crossed your mind to ask your fellow employee to do the translation instead of contacting someone from a professional agency? I mean how difficult can it be to translate a text? I would propose trying it yourself and you will be surprised at the difficulty of the task itself.
To be a translator you need to be meticulous. You must have excellent writing skills and be a stickler for grammar and punctuation, as well as possessing exceptional knowledge of both the language you’re translating from (known as the source language) and the one you’re translating into (the target language). If you’re happy with your translation simply being “close enough” to the meaning of the original text, perhaps this would not be the best decision.
Why not find and ask some freelance translator online?
If you have not worked with a translation agency before, this is a common option to think about, but if you start looking you will soon see it is not easy to find someone reliable since there are people who call themselves translators only because they have a computer and can speak two or more languages.
Quality assurance
At flexword we have strict requirements and high-quality standards for our translators and proofreaders, who need to have proven experience in their chosen industry (i.e. medicine, law, technology, advertising, etc.) and a suitable educational background. Additionally, we have a long-term cooperation with our translators for different language combinations and therefore you can be certain of receiving a high degree of accuracy with each translation as our translator works diligently to relay your message in the most concise and comprehensive way.
Saving your time
Whether your request is big or small, you may struggle doing it in an efficient and timely manner. It would be easier for you to let it be managed by a translation service company since they can do it within a short space of time. Some can even deliver a very quick turnaround of just one day. If you are working to a very tight deadline, then by using this service, you know that you’ll get your documents back quickly without sacrificing accuracy.
Data protection
Most language service providers have a secure translation management system so you can be sure that your files will be sent for translation via a secured e-mail address. Translators assigned by an agency use a secure server-based environment to complete their work, and are unable to download any files to their personal devices. Additionally, non-disclosure agreements are common practice for a lot of organisations, but they’re now becoming more important than ever. Linguists are also bound to sign them and, in that way, agencies are stressing the importance of data protection.
If you are interested in working with us, flexword makes it easy to get a translation quote in just a few clicks!