How to Find the Right Document Translation Services Company
By: L. Amado – 02/14/2010
Professional document translation service providers have to meet the growing needs and requirements of their clients by providing an increasing number of value-added quality services. But what are some of the aspects to take into account to find the one that is right for you?
In a world where more and more aspects of life and work have become computerized, it is critical that a professional document translation firm bases its services on human translation. What is commonly referred to as “machine translation” produces generally incomprehensive results, and while computer-assisted translation (CAT) tools are useful for large volumes of repetitive texts—as can be the case when translating technical manuals—accurate, high quality document translations can only be created by qualified professionals, i.e. certified human translators experienced in their specific fields. Advanced technology certainly has its place in professional document translation services, but the translation process itself relies on the competence, skill, and knowledge of the professional translator.
Another important factor to consider is that the professional translation services provider of your choice should work with a global network of accredited document translators and can take advantage of their geographic placement. This means that your document translation projects are processed 24/7, independent of your location and/or time zone. In this regard, modern technology is vital to relay materials and make document translation results available on secure web server any time of the day.
One of the most important indicators for a quality document translation services company is a solid reputation for reliability. Longstanding professional translation firms are registered with the American Translators Association and exclusively work with certified document translators accredited either by the latter and/or organizations such as The Institute of Linguists, La Société Française des Traducteurs, Institute of Translation and Interpreting, US National Association of Judiciary Interpreters and Translators, and the United Nations.
The professional document translation service of your choice must also be able to efficiently handle all your specialized translation requirements, using a team of certified translators with the experience and knowledge needed for each individual assignment. It is crucial that the translator team handling your project specializes in the respective field and that all translations are subject to strictest quality control.
Last but not least, the project or account managers—your number 1 contact at the professional document translation company—must be experts in all things translation, able to answer your questions, address your concerns, and assign the right document translation team for every individual project. They also must be able to accommodate special requests, ranging from particular layouts to specific certification and turnaround requirements.
With their specialized teams of professional, certified document translators, their proprietary translation workflow process and proven track record in the industry, Legal Translation Solutions, and its parent company, ASTA-USA Translation Services, are an excellent choice when you are in the market for professional document translation services.
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Professional Document Translation Service Company
What You Can Expect From the Most Reliable
Professional Document Translation Service Company
By: L. Amado – 2/15/2010
In today’s global economy, it is vital for businesses to have mission-critical documents translated into and from other languages in order to operate on an international level. Small and large companies and organizations experience every day how difficult language barriers can be. The only reliable, long-term solution is to hire the services of a professional document translation services provider.
If you need, for instance, marketing brochures, company handbooks or scientific research reports translated into one or more foreign languages, or require an English translation of multinational agreements, a professional document translation company will be able to provide you with accurate, high quality translations, regardless of volume and desired turnaround for your project. A professional document translation service is equipped to handle any size or kind of project and return the translated document(s) to you within a short period of time.
Legal Translation Solutions and its parent company, ASTA-USA Translation Services, Inc., have been voted America’s most reliable professional document translation services company. You can expect us to dependably deliver top of the line document translations, since we work with a global network of professional, certified translators who possess the experience and knowledge to meet your specialized document translation requirements in any field and for every industry. We are a Corporate Member of the American Translators Association (ATA) and our professional document translators are accredited by the ATA and other organizations such as The Institute of Linguists, La Société Française des Traducteurs, Institute of Translation and Interpreting, US National Association of Judiciary Interpreters and Translators, and the United Nations.
As the most reliable professional document translation service provider, we are a well-established company capable of offering highly competitive pricing. Customer retention is our top priority and we offer superior quality at unbeatable value, never comprising the accuracy of our document translations. You can obtain an instant quote online or speak with one of our expert customer representatives.
In order to serve our clients around the globe and around the clock, we provide online transaction services, which means that documents can be posted and downloaded from our secure web servers 24/7. Furthermore, our document translation process, which consists of translation, editing, proofing and certification, is assigned to virtual translator “tag teams”, strategically located across different time zones, whenever time is of essence. Fast turnaround times thus never have to come at the cost of lower quality standards.
Last but not least, our reputation as the most reliable professional document translation service provider also derives from our strict confidentiality policies and processes which serve to protect the privacy of our clients. The contents of any and all documents sent for translation as well as all details pertaining thereto are kept in utmost confidentiality, as reflected by our impeccable reputation and years of dedicated work to earn the trust of our customers.
If you are looking for a professional document translation services company, call America’s most reliable translation services provider today. We look forward to assisting you with your document translation needs.
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Criteria For Choosing Document Translation Services
By: L. Amado – 02/16/2010
Until very recently, it could be argued that translating documents was a choice. But now, with a global economy that effectively functions as a worldwide marketplace, translation of business documents is simply a must. With hundreds of translation services companies available, how do you find the right one that will deliver accurate, high quality document translations? Poor translations can seriously impact your capacity to do business at a global scale. It makes perfect sense to deal only with the very best. Here are a few questions to take into account when choosing a professional document translation service provider.
Does the document translation company use machine translation?
There is still no machine or software program able to replace a human translator to create high quality and accurate professional translations. Computer-assisted translation (CAT) tools can be helpful when dealing with high-volume jobs of largely repetitive content, such as technical manuals. But they need to be used by professional translators to ensure consistency and carefully match the context throughout each document, and are not suited for most other types of document translation. Professional document translation companies never use online translation engines or stand-alone computer programs, since translations generated this way are not only substandard, but largely incomprehensible.
Does the document translation service hire and retain qualified professional translators?
A reliable professional document translation company hires and retains only qualified, experienced professional translators who are native speakers of their target language(s). Professional translators working for the most reliable document translation company are certified and accredited by the world’s leading organizations, which include the Institute of Linguists, American Translators Association (ATA), La Société Française des Traducteurs, Institute of Translation and Interpreting, US National Association of Judiciary Interpreters and Translators, and the United Nations.
What types of document translation services are available?
A well-established and experienced professional document translation company offers several types of document translation services that are industry-specific. Industry-specific document translations include business and financial translations, marketing brochure translations, intellectual property law and patent contract translations, scientific manual or textbook translations, and pharmacology or medical report translations. Professional translators assigned to such projects are experts on the subject and familiar with the terminology and concepts of the particular field. Specialized material, such as medical, technical, and legal documents, needs the careful translation of experienced translators who are professionals in the field in question.
What is the estimated turnaround for document translation?
It is crucial for every document translation that there is enough time to translate, edit, and proofread. Fast service should never come at the cost of accuracy and quality. However, a reliable, professional document translation agency can offer quick turnaround times should you need urgent translations, but only if they work with a global network of certified translators that allows them to take advantage of different time zones. Some document translations are more time-consuming than others, and the project or account manager taking your translation request will advise and discuss details with you.
How are document deliveries handled?
When you set up an account with a reliable professional document translation service, which can be done online, you will be assigned a project or account manager. Account managers are often assigned to corporate programs that provide special rates, such as volume and yearly discounts. Should you need an on-site document translation anywhere in the world, the account manager will be able to arrange it. Most document traffic, however, will be done online and you will be asked to email or upload your documents to be translated, unless you prefer sending them via fax or mail. Once the document translation is complete, email deliveries and uploads to company ftp or similar sites are performed via secure web servers. Professional document translation providers will always assure confidentiality in all document delivery processes. If you need certified hard copies, they will be sent by authorized shipping services like USPS, UPS, or FEDEX.
Whatever your document translation needs are, let professional document translation companies such as Legal Translation Solutions and its parent company, ASTA-USA Translation Services, assist you in carrying your message to all corners of the globe!
The Cost of Professional Translation Services
How much importance should be placed on the cost of translating your important documents?
By C. Coffee 01/20/2010
Several factors will influence the cost for document translation services and a trustworthy translation services provider will never cut corners on quality and accuracy in order to win a bidding process against its competitors – simply because quality cannot be produced and delivered for bread crumbs – unless, of course, the individual or entity requesting a translation project does not care about quality, correct interpretation, and accuracy.
Let’s first address the various factors to affect translation services pricing and then we can compare the “good trustworthy” translation services provider vs. the “let’s make a quick profit” type translation services provider.
Translation Services Cost Factor #1: Language Pairs
Language pairs will be the first and most obvious factor. This is true all across the language translation service industry. Latin languages such as Spanish, French and Italian are typically less expensive than Asian languages such as Japanese, Chinese and Vietnamese.
Translation Services Cost Factor #2: Subject Matter
How complex or technical is the content of the materials to be translated will play an important role in translation service costs. A general business letter will likely cost less to translate than a scientific research paper. The two most obvious reasons for the cost difference rest with the level of education and expertise the translator must possess – meaning a non-accredited translator with basic knowledge of the source and target languages may translate a general business letter adequately – while a certified/professional translator with the applicable scientific background will be needed to translate the scientific research paper. Obviously, a certified translator with a science background will be compensated at a higher rate than a non-accredited translator with a basic education level. The other obvious reason for the cost difference for translating a general business letter vs. a scientific research paper is the time required to perform the translation. Needless to say, the more complex the content and subject matter, the more research and critical attention will be required to complete the translation correctly and accurately.
Translation Services Cost Factor #3: Quantity
The total number of words contained in the source material and documentation will directly influence the cost. Most translation providers price their translation services on a per-word basis. Some base their prices on the number of source words while others (the vast majority) base pricing on the target/final word count. One can expect a minimum fee for small documents containing less than 500 words and one can also expect a volume discount for large projects.
Translation Services Cost Factor #4: Deadlines
Standard turnaround time, Rush and Rush/Critical requests, will likely affect the overall cost of a translation services project. Will the rush request force the translation team to work overtime? Will it force the translation team to work during the weekend or on a holiday? Will the translation services provider be forced to add more translators to the project in order to meet the client’s critical deadline? Overtime, weekends, holidays and an increase in the number of translators required to perform and complete a translation project “correctly” and “on time” will inevitably add to the overall cost. If a translation service provider does not increase the cost for rush projects – you can certainly expect the translation work to be incomplete and/or filled with inaccuracies… Now consider the added costs and time delays that will be required to make it right!
Translation Services Cost Factor #5: Quality and Clarity
One of the most frustrating issues that a professional translator will face is being asked to provide accurate translation work when given unclear third-generation fax copies of the source document. A translator’s responsibility is to translate what can be read and recognized clearly not speculating on what word(s) were supposed to be on the page. Unclear materials will result in the translation service team having to conduct research and endless back-and-forth communication with the client to discuss the missing or unclear portions of the document. Most professional translation service companies will refuse the assignment if the source material is unclear or illegible. Others will translate what can be translated and fill the unclear portions with [illegible] notations and leave it to the client to make sense of the actual content.
Translation Services Cost Factor #6: Formatting Requirements
Will the translation assignment require additional production work such as formatting, desktop publishing, graphics, formulas, tables and publishing the translated work using a non-universal software program requiring special skills? In such cases, the translation service agency may likely tag on additional charges (per hour usually) for the additional formatting and DTP work required to complete the project.
The above translation services cost factors are presented here as the most obvious and primary factors influencing the cost of a translation project. Naturally, each case has its own differences and particularities and as such, other factors may influence the cost of a translation project. But one aspect that has often resulted in increased and unexpected additional expenses for a translation project is when a translation client falls for the “let’s make a quick profit” type translation provider. This type of translation service provider hires and assigns translation work to non-accredited, inexperienced translators and they often use software translation tools to expedite the process and produces a translated document filled with inaccuracies and linguistic mistakes. These mistakes and inaccuracies may not be found until it’s too late and the client faces professional embarrassment and potentially costly legal fallouts. To make things right, the client is now forced to have the work performed again – this time, hopefully, using a “good and trustworthy” translation services provider.
Low-cost translation services, more often than not, generate a series of complications and eventually turn to higher-than-needed translation cost. Would you trust a non-accredited inexperienced surgeon offering low-cost services to perform a critical surgery for you or a member of your family? Do not yield to the temptation of cheap and fast document translations whether for legal, financial, scientific, technical, governmental or other professional work. Sure, you can use free online translation devices or translation software to save a few pennies. Or, press your translation company for a 24-hour turnaround. Just remember that the least expensive and fastest document translations usually mean huge problems later.
You can trust ASTA-USA Translation Services (www.asta-usa.com) and its legal division Legal Translation Solutions (www.legaltranslationsolutions.com) to provide you with translation quality and accuracy on a timely basis all with at very competitive prices.
