4 Reasons You Should Hire a Translation Agency

Jul 10, 2014 | Business Tips

hire a translation agency

In the age of empowered internet users, the digital realm has revolutionized service accessibility, encompassing publishing, transportation, lodging reservations, and engaging service providers, including how to hire a translation agency.

Thanks to platforms like Uber, Fiverr, Airbnb, Airtasker, and Amazon’s Kindle Direct Publishing program, individuals can easily find a wide range of services, bypassing traditional intermediaries.

This evolution in the “sharing economy” has empowered users with unprecedented autonomy. However, in this pro-internet world, the role of a translation agency has become increasingly valuable.

While the Internet promotes self-sufficiency, the need for professional translation services persists, ensuring effective communication and engagement in a global, multilingual environment.

After all, when you aim to connect with diverse audiences worldwide, contracting a translation agency can be your invaluable ally.

It might seem that business translation and localization fall into this category as well: if you spend a little time on Google, you can find platforms offering cheap translations to anyone.

Cost-conscious entrepreneurs might start to wonder: why would anyone pay for a professional translation agency if much cheaper alternatives are just a few clicks away?

What value can traditional language service providers (LSPs) possibly add at this point in the game?

4 Good Reasons Why You Should Hire a Translation Agency

Finding and Managing Qualified Translators

There’s one obvious advantage a professional language service provider has over the home-brew method of trying to find suitable translators for your project yourself: every reputable agency works with a pool of seasoned translators, often located in-country, to stay up-to-date with the latest cultural and linguistic developments.

Instead of starting over with new, untested collaborators, hire a translation agency. Any language service provider’s biggest asset is its roster of trusted professionals.

Managing these translators is not a trivial task, especially if you take into account that many business projects involve more than two languages.

Instead of a single language pair, you might find yourself working with several languages and an entire team of translators localizing for several markets simultaneously.

Coordinating and communicating with them about your project specifications and scope changes, confirming availability and deadlines, monitoring their progress, requesting updates, and keeping them abreast of the latest instructions requires vigilance and routine.

Why not use an agency which already has the necessary procedures in place?

Guaranteed Translation Quality

We often encounter the mistaken assumption that anyone who speaks two languages is qualified to translate between them.

In fact, translation is a highly specialized skill that relies on extensive study of languages and cultures together with years of experience to precisely render the meaning of one language in another.

As difficult as it is to find reliable, high-quality translators, the difficulties multiply when specialized texts have to be localized within today’s tight deadlines. Professional language service providers have procedures in place that ensure tight quality management and feedback.

Every text is proofread by at least one other professional after the initial translation, and the translation agency’s project managers track performance and reliability.

In complex work environments, the PM also maintains term glossaries to ensure consistency throughout large translation projects and between languages and guarantees that information is neither lost nor duplicated – and the final texts are delivered on time.

Administrative Tasks Done for You

At first glance, it may not seem like much extra effort to deal with a few freelance translators rather than hire a translation agency, but if you’ve ever dealt with international bank transfers and teams working in separate time zones, you may begin to understand the savings in time and fees only a language service provider can offer you.

Instead of having to deal with repetitive tasks such as confirming terms, tracking invoices sent and received, and making sure no payments are missed with each translator you work with, the language service provider is your one-stop shop for handling all these potential headaches.

Advanced Translation Tools & File Formats

The complexity of current tools and formats demands a high degree of experience and specialization from translators.

When you hire a translation agency, not only do they use tools such as machine-assisted translation (MT) or translation memory, but they also know how far to trust them and not rely exclusively on computerized help. They also know how to deal with obscure file formats.

If your translation isn’t just a straightforward text document but comes as part of a website or an app, you’ll want to make sure you’re working with an experienced agency that can reliably extract all the text that needs to be translated from the document – such as all meta tags, image descriptions, and URLs – and then fit the translations back into the proper place.

Only one mistake in any given document is enough to break a webpage or crash an app.

Your Trusted Translation Agency for Hire

When looking to hire a translation agency, you need to research the service provider before contracting them.

At BeTranslated, we stand as a beacon of excellence in the world of translation services. With a commitment to accuracy, linguistic precision, and a deep understanding of diverse industries, they have successfully helped businesses navigate the complexities of global communication.

Our dedication to quality, combined with a vast array of services spanning numerous sectors, positions us as a trusted partner for companies looking to expand their reach in the North American market and globally.

Our forward-thinking approach, including our foray into SEO and AI-generated proofreading, exemplifies our commitment to staying at the forefront of the translation industry.

Sound like the right solution for your language service needs? Get in touch with us here at BeTranslated, we’re happy to provide a quote or answer any questions you may have!