Tag Archives: Translation

4 Essential Translation Apps for your New Smart Phone

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January 6th, 2012

Smart phones are a great tool for translation, with their powerful processors and connection to the Internet, they provide access to good quality machine translation in your pocket. There are many different apps out there that provide translation and we’ve picked out the one’s we think are worthy of special mention. Here’s a run down [...]

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Guidelines for Selecting a Language Service Provider

Selecting a Language Service Provider (LSP) partner can be overwhelming, especially if you’re new to translation or localization and unsure which questions to ask. So to get started, you’ll first need to determine the exact scope of your localization and translation needs. To do this you’ll need to understand the right questions to ask that will identify the capabilities of prospective LSP’s in relation to your needs.

To help aid you along the process, as well as increase the likelihood of selecting the right LSP, we’ve compiled a list of questions your company should take into consideration before and during the vendor selection process. These questions will arm you with the necessary information you’ll need to select an LSP that has the right expertise to help your company accomplish its localization and translation goals.

Questions to ask yourself:

1. What type of internal support and knowledge does your company have in preparation for translation and localization? Do you have multilingual staff that can review the translated content to assess it’s quality and liaise with the LSP to define language style, terminology?

2. How much are you willing to spend annually on localization? What kind of resources and how much man power are you willing to devote to localizing your product, service or website?

3.  Which services does your company require from the LSP? Simple translation or full scale localization? Editing and proofreading or full linguistic review? Do you need additional support like multimedia production, DTP and software engineering?

4. What are the core languages that you plan to localize into right now and in the future?

5. How much translation volume do you anticipate? How often will you need it? What kind of file formats will you be using?

6. Do you use a content management, document management or translation management system that will need to integrate with the localization process, and do you need your LSP to work with the system you have in place?

7. What type and level of customer service does your company require? Do you need multi-lingual, in-country reps to deal with multiple dispersed teams working on different languages individually, or will all correspondence be handled through a single point of contact?

Questions to ask your potential vendor:

1. Ask the LSP to verify their basic financial data to understand their commercial stability. Ask for annual reports and/or audited financial statements.

2. Who are their previous and current clients? Ask the vendor to provide a list and don’t be afraid to ask for references. You should choose to work with an LSP that has knowledge and experience in your industry.

3. What is the LSP’s capacity? Is your localization output volume manageable for the LSP? What will the turnaround/delivery time be? What’s the maximum number of words/language pairs they can deal with weekly/monthly?

4. What types of content is the LSP capable of translating? Ask about specific document or file types and their experience with them. For example; training material, FAQ’s, knowledge bases, legal and technical documentation, marketing material. Can one LSP manage everything or would you need multiple vendors?

5. How does the LSP maintain quality and service levels? How often will they review your account? Yearly? Quarterly, if at all?

6. Ask for an example quote on a sample project. This will leave you better able to estimate and gauge future project costs and ensure that there are no hidden costs in the future.

7. How will project management be handled? Where will your LSP’s project managers be located and how many would be dedicated to your company?

As your company’s translation and localization requirements change and demands increase, your need for a a long-term partnership that allows for growth and flexibility will become essential.  We hope these questions and considerations will help you establish and maintain a good working relationship with a translation and localization vendor that is best suited to your unique needs.

Want more advice and best practices for choosing a Language Service Provider? Request a  free consultation with one of our team.

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