Professional translation services or individual translators? You decide

If your company is thinking of using an individual translator rather than a professional language service provider (LSP), consider some of the advantages of using a professional translation company before taking that next step.

• Although individual translators can sometimes offer better prices, a professional translation company can offer competitive prices while still ensuring quality.
• Professional LSPs may be more likely to provide free trial translations to help you gauge the level of quality of their finished worked product.
• A professional translation firm is far more likely to have set standards for the skills their translation and other company employees must have, as well as criteria for hiring.
• Unlike individual translators who may or may not have experience in a given discipline, professional translation services will typically offer subject matter expertise in a much broader range of specialities, such as automobile manufacturing, medical content, and telecommunications.
• Because of their more extensive experience and body of work, LSPs usually have comprehensive glossaries and terminology lists as well as the experience in ensuring consistency of terminology across a wide range of documents and outputs.
• For any translation work, a critical component to success is good project management and a standard translation process. Professional translation companies have the background in refining their processes to take into account best practices and are able to successfully manage and deliver projects that meet customer requirements, on time and with quality.
• Finally, a professional translation company should have the financial resources to ensure their work product and to invest in sophisticated translation memory tools that can help your company save time and money, project after project, by reusing translated content.