All-Inclusive Document Translation Services Online — What to Look for

When most people consider document translation services online, they’re typically seeking out a fast solution to translate a single document rather than an end-to-end program. However, even if you only need a small job done, it’s wise to choose the provider with the most robust services. Doing so sets the framework for all your future translation projects.Our economy is going global. Most companies that hope to continuously profit can’t just focus on one market with limited growth in English speaking countries; they need to consider locations outside of U.S. borders in order to grow their consumer base. Since localization strategies are easiest to iron out before a company reaches maturity, choosing a complete solution from the start is the wisest way to establish partnerships that will benefit you later on.

The Benefits of Choosing the Right Provider Early

It may be tempting just to choose the service that offers the lowest price and the fastest turnaround when you only have a single document to translate, but that’s a mistake you may come to regret later. An end-to-end document translation solution, even if it’s just for one single document, is only going to benefit you because it can offer:

• Process establishment: How you send and transfer files may not feel like important factors needing consideration for just one job. However, when you’re dealing with multiple translation projects in several different languages, those processes have the potential to cause significant time delays. Once you establish the streamlined processes for requesting jobs, getting quotes, and managing workflows, you’ll enjoy a much faster turnaround for all subsequent work.
• Terminology mapping: You likely have brand-specific language that you need translated to ensure consistent marketing and manage search engine optimization (SEO). Terminology mapping sets the tone for all future projects and ensures you receive the high-quality translation you need every single time.
• Translation memory: Your translation memory (TM) could fuel machine translation later, which can help reduce your expenses on all subsequent projects by allowing you to get more accurate results. The TM can also guide translators and help them understand the context of your project.

A single document is enough to create the foundational architecture that will help manage your future translations. Remember, there are no downsides to preparing for the future. If you never need another translation, you’ll still have a high-quality document; if you do require it in the future, the groundwork is already set. Of course, this is only possible if you seek out the right translation partner from the beginning.

What to Look for in Document Translation Services Online

The best document translation service online will offer you transparency, reporting options, and simplicity to manage all your localization tasks. Specifically, the company you choose should provide a technology-driven translation strategy that includes:

• Transparent, scalable billing: Scalable billing allows you to increase or decrease work without being trapped in a single flat rate. That way, you don’t waste funds when demand is low but still have the ability to ramp up production when you need to. This billing should be transparent and easy to manage. As soon as you submit a document, you should get an automated quote, as well as options for auto-approving individual invoices under a specific dollar amount.
• AI-enabled translator selection: The process of finding and vetting linguists is often considered a full-time job in itself. Artificial intelligence can guide you to the right person for your project based on their prior performance metrics. The program should also allow you to incorporate your preferences to seek out linguists you’ve worked with before and trust.
• A collaborative workspace: Most companies who work with translators aren’t offered a lot of opportunities for active collaboration. Instead, it’s typically a simple exchange process—they turn in documents, and the translator updates and returns them. A localization management platform that allows the company to communicate directly with their translators fosters collaboration and can help linguists gain much-needed context to improve their results.
• Real-time tracking: Emails and phone calls between translators and companies can end up equating to a lot of lost time and unnecessary back and forth. A collaborative platform should offer real-time job tracking so that project managers can see exactly where they are in the pipeline and generate accurate estimates on time to completion.
• Heightened security: An end-to-end solution eliminates security gaps that occur when people send emails containing sensitive documents back and forth. By keeping these strings of text in a single encrypted platform, there’s less risk of a breach. Ideally, that platform should also limit who can download data out of the system to ensure that it never leaves its secure space until it’s ready to go live.
• Preview capabilities: The ability to preview how strings will look before they’re live is a way to provide much-needed context to your translators. They’ll understand, for example, that the word “home” refers to the home screen of the app rather than the consumer’s home address, or vice versa. This feature also helps them catch issues with text spacing and line breaks that may not be obvious until after they’re live.

The right document translation service online will offer you all of these options, whether you’re translating a single document or thousands. By working with the right partner early, you set the stage for localization success in the future. That way, you can scale up your translation program when your company decides to move forward with a global launch.