What to Expect from a Professional Translation Companies

Posted by writer on December 3rd, 2009 at 06:02pm

Getting a hold of a freelance translator to do a project for you can be a hassle. Fortunately, there are other options.  A document translation company can handle almost any size project, and return the document to you within a very short period of time. Here are the 6 main features of professional translation services:

1. Affordable rates. There are many players in the translation industry and this brought about competition of the positive kind. This means you can get an attractive quote for your project, and have the freedom to shop around if the quote extended to you does not fit within your budget.

2. Instant project estimates.Get quotes instantly. Many document translation service companies offer an instant quote online or over the phone. This can make it much easier to obtain an estimate of the project costs before you begin, and also gives you the opportunity to shop around. Look for companies that offer instant online quotes if you are short on time and need to make a quick decision on the company you should work with.

3. Fast completion of projects. Since most document translation services companies are comprised of a team of translators, they can promise faster turnaround times than an independent freelance translator. The actual translation process may consist of the translation, editing, proofing, grammar check and then a quality check. This ensures that you will be receiving only the highest-quality work at all times, and still get it faster than an independent translator. When you’re working on a tight deadline, this can be a very attractive feature.

4. Immediate feedback and updates. Keeping track of the progress and changes in a project is important for most people. Fortunately, most professional translation companies have customer support personnel that are available anytime to keep clients updated on their project. It is also normal industry practice for companies to assign a specific project manager to a client for the whole duration of a project.

5. Translation done by native translators. There are a few companies that rely on software to perform translations but most companies employ native speakers as their translators. Native speakers often produce the best translations since they understand their language so well that they are able to retain the message of your original document.

6. Efficient document submission and retrieval. Many document translation services companies accept documents in an electronic format, which means you can upload the document to a central location online, scan the document and send the file, or simply attach a Word or .PDF document to an e-mail. This further increases turnaround times since less time is needed to hand over the document from one party to another.

The main advantage of translation companies over freelance translators is that they have a system in place to ensure quality and efficient service consistently. Your job now is to find the best company that would match your needs and budget.

Tags: document translation, document translation services, translation, translation services

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