With the global marketplace growing each day, the demand for high-quality translation for effective multilingual communication continues to rise.
But when it comes to entrusting your valuable business content to a translation partner, the decision carries weight.
Go with a business translation agency or hire freelance translators?
In this comprehensive blog, we will walk you through the key factors to weigh when deciding between an agency or independent translators for your business translations.
We will compare everything from experience and specialization to costs and tools; you will get tips on navigating this decision to equip you with the knowledge and insights necessary to evaluate both options.
Key Factors To Weigh When Deciding Between A Business Translation Agency Or A Freelance Translator
You must have done your research on how to get your business documents translated.
On one hand, you have got freelance translators offering flexibility and lower costs. But then professional business translation agencies promise quality control and project management.
And, finally, you realize the choice is not as straightforward as you hoped.
Think about your timeline, budget, document complexity, requirements, and preferred management style, and with all of this in mind, let us explore together key factors that will help you determine which fits your needs and requirements best.
➤ 1. Quality
If high quality is what you are looking for, both freelance translators and business translation agencies can offer it to you but with varying degrees of assurance.
While skilled freelance translators may strive to achieve perfection and maintain quality in the translations they provide, lacking the cooperation of specialized reviewers makes inconsistencies or subtle errors more likely to slip through.
And as they work solo, it becomes really difficult to coordinate intricate revision rounds for each project compared to working in teams.
Business translation agencies, on the contrary, work with an extensive team of highly skilled and specialized translators.
These agencies employ native-speaking professionals with expertise in various industries, ensuring that your content is accurately translated while maintaining the industry-specific terminology and nuances crucial for your specialized content quality.
Moreover, they take quality assurance to the next level through intensively coordinated teamwork. Robust quality assurance processes including multiple rounds of proofreading and editing, automated quality checks, and back translation for medical translations, are only exclusive to professional agencies.
➤ 2. Capacity
If you need high volumes of translation work, evaluating the capacity of both options can also help you settle on the best choice.
While independent freelance translators generally have limitations in terms of the number of words they can translate on a daily basis, often around 2000 words, business translation agencies excel at large-scale projects through their expansive pool of language experts and translation tools.
Some of the issues you might encounter in terms of work capacity when partnering with freelance translators include:
- Potential Delays
Unexpected events or overlapping projects can lead to delays in the freelancer’s availability and, subsequently, the completion of your translation project.
- Potential Quality Risks
If freelancers take on more work than they can handle, there is a risk of compromising the quality of the translations due to time constraints or divided attention.
- Lack of Scalability
Freelancers may struggle to handle sudden spikes in workload or large-scale projects that require a team effort, limiting their ability to accommodate your expanding translation needs.
On the contrary, top agencies are well-equipped to take on high-volume translation programs involving thousands of documents or terabytes of content on an ongoing basis. And at the same time, they can still meet even the tightest deadlines.
This superior capacity is what enables agencies to offer various additional services beyond translation your business might need like dubbing and subtitles for video marketing localization, desktop publishing for accurate document formatting, and even SEO localization for better online visibility— functioning as your one-stop-shop for all needs.
And one great advantage you can get from this is package and volume discounts as most agencies offer reduced prices for larger work volumes and bundled services, which all can lead to long-term cost savings.
So, ultimately, your final choice hinges on your project’s scale and urgency.
If you are navigating a vast sea of content that demands multiple services and quick turnarounds, a business translation agency’s robust capacity will be your ally.
However, for smaller, niche projects that require a more tailored approach, the freelance translator’s craftsmanship might be the perfect fit.
Check this blog to learn about the best practices for website localization and how translation agencies manage SEO localization.
➤ 3. Resources & Tools
A significant differentiator between translation agencies and freelance translators is the arsenal of resources and tools at their disposal. But whether or not this can be a determining factor for you when choosing between the two options depends on considerations like
- Needs For Consistency
Robust term bases ensure consistent terminology across projects which can be important for specialized translations like legal and medical.
- Volume of Repetitive Content
Translation memories can significantly reduce costs for standardized documents, which can be valuable if you are updating frequent content.
- Quality
Automated quality checks are great for maximizing quality.
- Timeline
Advanced tools help agencies meet volume demands and quick turnarounds, which is necessary if your project is big and urgent.
So which of the two options has an edge over the other when it comes to translation resources and technology?
Translation agencies often boast a comprehensive toolbox equipped with cutting-edge technology, an array of linguistic experts, and a streamlined project management process.
And when we mention technology here, we are talking about massive translation memory databases filled to the brim with past projects and industrial-strength CAT tools optimized to expedite even the most complex of content conversions.
On the contrary, freelance translators, while often possessing commendable linguistic skills, typically operate with fewer resources, working independently and relying more on publicly available tools.
They may use basic CAT software and online dictionaries but typically do not have access to enterprise-level translation technologies, which can be a huge investment for individual translators to afford. And while they can develop personal glossaries over time, they cannot match the sophisticated TMS systems used by agencies.
➤ 4. Project Management
Project management ensures everything runs like clockwork from start to finish, bringing a high level of organization and coordination to the table.
And that is why it can be a key factor for you to consider when choosing between a freelance translator and a professional agency.
Professional business translation agencies have dedicated project managers who
- Coordinate all aspects, from intake to delivery, ensuring consistency and communication.
- Act as a single point of contact, addressing client queries or change requests during translations and providing rapid guidance to keep projects on track.
- Work closely with clients to understand their brand voice, style guide, and content-specific needs.
- Provide ongoing counsel to ensure translations stay on-brand.
- Monitor translation progress, surfacing any questions or issues to be addressed in real time.
Also, advanced project management systems and tech tools go hand in hand at leading translation agencies.
Not only do their dedicated PMs coordinate work seamlessly, but they also invest heavily in custom integrations allowing for two-way communication between their platforms and their client’s backend systems. This enables system-to-system transfer, reducing project delivery time by saving the time and effort required for manual piecemeal submissions.
With freelance translators, the project management approach tends to differ a bit. Rather than dedicated internal PM teams, freelancers rely on more direct client collaboration. This places responsibility on both parties to facilitate tasks like file sharing, timeline setting, and quality checkpoints.
While freelancers can bring excellent communication skills and linguistic expertise, clients typically assume the project coordination role from quote to delivery. Any needed adjustments are discussed spontaneously rather than through a centralized system.
To make your final choice, consider:
- How well responsibilities can be balanced without formalized project management in place.
- Your workflow preferences.
- Level of handholding needed.
A Client’s Checklist for Choosing The Right Business Translation Agency
Download this handy checklist to inform your decision and help you collaborate with the right business translation agency.
➤ 5. Cost
Freelance translators often offer inexpensive rates, as they have lower overhead costs compared to agencies since they work independently.
But while you might find this flexibility advantageous, especially if your budget is constrained, you have to bear in mind the risk that low-price translators might lack the experience and qualifications to deliver accurate translations. So, you need to be really careful when choosing your partner.
Unlike freelancers, business translation agencies have slightly higher rates. Reputable business translation agencies maintain sizeable expert translation teams, project managers, QA professionals, and highly advanced translation technology that all add a significant overhead cost factored into their rates.
But this does not mean all agencies have prohibitively expensive pricing. There are many translation companies that offer affordable options as well as customizable quotes that can be tailored to fit your budget.
However, operating at such a professional, sophisticated level is actually what ensures maximum consistency, accuracy, and quality are brought to your project.
And this means accentuating your ROI potential through more effective communication, without needing to carry additional reworking costs or risk inconsistent quality that could undermine your goals
So, does this seem like a value well worth the cost for you? To answer this question, consider the following:
- The risks errors pose
- How critical high quality is for your documents
- The costs poor quality introduces vs an agency's reasonable fees
And one last thing you need to consider is variations in pricing models. Freelance translators usually offer flat rates based on word count or page length. Agencies, on the other hand, might provide more pricing structures including per hour or project to suit different needs.
Our advice to you is that whether you decide to partner with a freelance translator or a business translation agency, you need to find the right balance between cost-effectiveness and quality.
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A Business Translation Agency Or A Freelance Translator: A Final Glimpse Into What Both Offer
Remember, finding the right balance is key to achieving success in your business translation. There is no definitive right or wrong choice, but rather the choice that best suits your specific needs.
Pursue the option that aligns with your requirements whether it is collaborating with a business translation agency for your future project or hiring a freelance translator.
Trust your judgment and select the option that will propel your business forward in the global market.
We hope this close examination of the key differences can help as you evaluate the two options.
bayantech: A Professional Provider of Business Translation In 120+ Languages
If you believe partnering with an experienced business translation agency is the right fit for your business plans, look no further than bayantech, your ISO 17001 and 9001 certified translation and international SEO agency.
For two decades, we have helped our clients translate and localize their content into 120+ languages through our professional translation services for business. Our in-house team of native-speaking translators specializes in legal, technical, marketing, finance, and banking, in addition to many other fields.
So whether you need internal company documents translation services, financial translation services, or even legal translation services, rest assured that we will assign the right translator with the needed expertise for your specialization.
We also utilize the latest CAT tools, project management technology, and automatic QA tools to deliver high-quality translations on time and on budget. Coupled with our capabilities in the industry, we are able to deliver translations for all types of business content. From the most complex translation of digital platform content and online advertising campaigns to simple brochures, leaflets, business cards, and questionnaire translations, bayantech is well-equipped to meet all your translation needs.
Trust bayantech to become your translation partner and get the best business translation services for successful international expansion. Contact us today to get started.
