Why choose an LSP to translate your documents

Why choose an LSP to translate your documents

Often times new clients come to us after they have decided to stop using Google, interns, internal resources, freelancer, distributors or themselves for getting translations done.  Here is a list of the most common reasons we hear new clients looking to switch to language service providers (LSPs):

  • Currently getting inadequate translations
  • Need translations validated and certified
  • Translating is harder and far more time consuming than they thought
  • Their own time in terms of cost is not worth it for them

All the reasons tend to revolve around needing to make sure that their translations will serve their purpose and deciding that the cost of having a translation company deal with everything is far less than them having to do it themselves.  

Here are the most common reasons we hear about what our services have helped our clients do:

  • Maintain branding of quality
  • Keep costs low
  • Meet deadlines
  • Mitigate business risk

Allocating specialized tasks to a specialist better allows you, your team, and your organization to do what you do best and allows the specialist vendor to do what they do best.  

Maintain branding of quality

Perhaps by coincidence, but all of our clients value “quality” in their branding, whether “quality” refers to durability, flexibility, reliability, strength, or some other feature of their product or service.  To ensure that quality is properly instilled in the corporate culture and branding of the company, they seek quality vendors to do a quality job, and while translation might be 2% of what they are responsible for, it is 100% of what we are responsible for.  As a result, a quality translation is far more likely to come from an LSP than anywhere else.

A common concern clients have when migrating their translation work from internal resources to external ones, is the loss of corporate branding, or the “sense and feel” of the company’s messaging.  Thankfully, this is not actually an issue. Expert LSPs utilize tools, such as glossaries and style guides, to capture any particular client’s preferential terms and style. These tools are essential to delivering real quality to clients.  Just as there is more than one way of saying the same thing in English, there is more than one way of saying the same thing in other languages. In order to maintain consistent branding across languages, collaborate with your LSP on developing a glossary and style guide.   

Translation Memory (TM) is one of the most important tools LSPs use to serve clients.  Like a glossary, TM can track key terms that clients value to ensure preferred and consistent use of them throughout the duration of time that a translator is writing.  It can even automatically indicate when terms are being used inconsistently. This sort of tool is essential to maintaining on-brand messaging and clear communication.

Keep costs low

Many buyers of translations are important decision-makers in their organizations.  Their hourly cost to the company is more than the comparatively hourly cost of translation services.  Moreover, the time not spent translating leaves the client to do work that only they can do. In most cases, we are replacing a task that their assistant does.  Anecdotally, we have learned that reassigning translation to us has both improved their productivity and morale.

When specialists do their work, they use specialist tools.  In the translation industry, a commonly (not common enough!) used tool is translation memory. TM is the environment that professional translators work in.  It tracks every line a translator writes and checks the document for identical lines to match the translation with. This reduces time, cost, and ensures consistency.   

When you partner with vendors for professional services, it’s not uncommon to occasionally receive free consulting or other services. In the translation industry, there are a number of important but auxiliary services that clients can receive for free that maintain robust value in service, such as glossary creation, project management, vendor management, and quality control.  

Meet deadlines

To our surprise, one key value that clients appreciate when migrating translation work to us is knowing with a high degree of accuracy and confidence how long it will take to receive a finished and print-ready document.  The apparent benefit is reliable timelines and predictable achievement of milestones in their own projects.

Clients, in combination of learning when they can reliably receive their translation, are also surprised to learn that it takes far less time to complete a translation than it took their own resources internally.  This is because specialists tend to be far more proficient and faster at doing what they do best.

Finally, the most unexpected surprise when working with specialists is that work tends to be done correctly the first time – upon the first delivery.  This reduces the probability of delays in translations and the overall project that might occur due to redos.

Mitigate business risk

Quality, costs and time all carry an interpretation in the form of business risk.  Ultimately, it is the goal of partnering with an LSP to minimize business risk. Partnering with an LSP is meant to reduce risk involved in a project without compromising on an expected degree of quality, cost and time.

In discussions with clients, we have learned that mentioning that translations are being done by a professional and a specialist LSP carries currency in high-level discussions with upper management.  In large organizations, the use of specialists relieves a degree of risk from a larger project.

Risk as it relates to quality, means that when the translation is delivered, it will carry a higher degree of quality and thus the risk of an error affecting business is reduced.  Tools such as translation memory, glossaries, style guides, etc. encourage the appropriate amount of collaboration while mitigating overall project management risk. In general, risk cannot be eliminated completely, but it can be mitigated optimally.  

Mitigated risk, regarding deadlines, means that translation projects are more likely to be done on-time – the first time.  Part of what an LSP manages are all vendors in a project, including monitoring for delays and addressing them before the final deadline is affected.  There is a reduced risk of the client’s own deadlines being missed and that of other colleagues or their clients.

Overall, the question of whether or not partnering with an LSP is worthwhile should be answered with a definitive “yes”.  LSPs when partnered with correctly meet or raise the standard on quality, timeliness, and cost-effectiveness while mitigating business risk.  

If you’d like to learn more about how BURG Translations helps you ensure high-quality translations, contact us today.