How to save money and time when requesting translations?
Maria Xanthopoulou
Conference Interpreter & Certified Translator- I help businesses and professionals efficiently connect and communicate with clients overseas through translation and interpreting services in EN/DE/FR/TR from/into Greek
Typical client request:
“Please let me know how much will this cost and when it will be ready”
Money and time. These are often the two main concerns of customers requesting translation services. The question now is how you can save the money and time spent on translations. Have you ever wondered what you can do in this respect yourself?
Most people believe that these parameters depend totally on the translator and to get the best offer they keep sending the same request to multiple translators until they receive their desired response.
This is not true though. Making an extensive research solely based on these two quantitative criteria actually delays the start of the project and thus prolongs the overall time needed for the completion of the task. Furthermore, disregarding other qualitative criteria like the methodology of working or a translator’s insightfulness, prudence and punctuality can cause great losses, when something goes wrong with the implementation of the project.
What to do then?
Like in many other circumstances, to save money and time on translations you need to have a holistic strategy, which includes steps both in the short and in the long run. Here are some tips:
File type management
Did you know that handling non-editable file types, like PDFs, prolongs the duration of the translation procedure, since extra steps need to be taken to convert the file and reconstruct tables and graphs in the target language? Providing the translator with raw, editable material instead can speed things up and reduce effort.
So, an easy step you can take in the short run is search for the initial editable (usually in word format) report your team drafted in the first place or ask it from your partners in case it was initially prepared by another company you cooperate with. This normally takes you 5-10 minutes overall, but it allows you to save even up to 2 weeks’ time, which our graphic designer could allocate for the conversion of the file and the processing of visuals and graphs.
Effective content and terminology management
Did you know that we, translators, use specialized software that automatically retrieves similar translations of past projects from a database and allows us to reuse these segments making only a quick modification to adapt them to the new content, instead of having to translate everything from scratch again? Can you imagine how much time can be saved with this technique?
This kind of software though is only useful in the middle or long run, as we need to repeatedly handle a project in order to be able to create a suitable database that gives meaningful results.
To achieve this you rather need to enter into a stable relation with us that allows for regular repeated assignments. Only with a steady flow of work are we able to create a database tailored to your projects and familiarize ourselves with the particular characteristics of your products and tasks.
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Leverage the power of AI
Last but not least, the newest technological developments in the field of machine translation can also save you significant time under certain conditions. You need to be cautious though. Similarly to the specialized software described above, the development of a machine translation system that gives quick and reliable results is a complex task that requires a great level of expertise. If used by non-experts, it can lead to painful mistakes that will end up in wasting your time and money after all. To stay safe, it is better not to try it on your own.
My team consists of experienced top-notch linguists who have been specially trained on machine translation technologies and know how to profit from AI developments in a safe and secure way. In the case of long-term co-operations we are ready to implement AI solutions, when we see that a project’s conditions are suitable and mature enough and that AI could have a positive impact in terms of efficiency and productivity.
Sounds interesting? Then let’s talk.
Contact me now for a free consultation and let us design a robust strategy to save money and time on translations together.
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My company?specializes in helping businesses expand worldwide and gain customers abroad by providing consulting and translation/interpreting services to support their strategy and goals.
Services we provide for businesses include among others:
Get in touch with me now for a free consultation!
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Email:?[email protected]