Listen to this articleTranslation is a pressing need for businesses around the world, but translation cost can hinder your business a little bit. By all means, translation brings you one step closer to reaching your international and local market expansion objectives. Nevertheless, deciding on the best deal to get your translation done never gets easier. You pursue the best provider to come up with satisfying results for the demanding equation of quality, time, and cost, especially quality and cost.
Translation cost is one thing that makes you have second thoughts. You want the best quality, but you usually end up paying a fortune. Professional translation is a profession that takes a lot more than just a bilingual person producing professional translation. It’s not a thing you can get for free, otherwise Google or Bing would have solved the equation long time ago. If you think translation is expensive then you may think about the consequences of communicating with your consumers poorly – think for a moment about what happens when a snapshot is taken of wrong translation in your product manual for example and it gets propagated on Social Media for laughs!
So, translation cost is not something you can avoid when thinking of globalizing your products and/or services to different markets but did you know that YOU can do something about that? Take it from us; you can reasonably budget your translation projects without compromising quality.
Have no worries, this doesn’t require any super powers. So, scroll down for our handy tips to reduce the sky-high translation cost.
Start with English & Polish up Your Source File
Whether you regularly translate to different languages or perhaps you are planning to potentially increase the number of languages you translate to at some point, it’s always recommended to create your content in English in the first place. This will certainly help you dramatically reduce the translation cost. Always remember, the translation cost will be higher if English is not the source language of the original content. Besides, there will be other obstacles along the way related to quality and turnaround time.
Before assigning your translation project, you need to dedicate some time and effort to polish up and tweak your source file. Since your project’s translation cost is based on the count of words, you can eliminate the amount of content that needs translation. Translators can’t change a bit in your file; they just translate. So, you are the one who has control over the cost. Here are some procedures that can be done to the content:
- Keep it simple, straightforward, and optimized.
- Maintain consistency in terminology, number formats…etc.
- Edit different texts with similar meanings.
- Avoid repetition and remove irrelevant/unnecessary parts in your text.
- Use the right content management system (CMS) for saving and reusing previously translated texts that never vary (like “How to Get Help†section in manuals). No need to pay for them each time.
Sort out the Layout to Reduce the Translation Cost
Your layout needs to be efficiently simple and functional. The same applies on the use of visuals in your files. Designers spend time working on your layout and digital content, which means higher costs. You can avoid all this and reduce the total translation cost radically by trying to employ the following:
- Use the most translation-friendly publishing software.
- Systematize your digital/graphics content by avoiding embedded texts in graphics. This helps in planning for lengthy translation.
Make Deadlines ManageableÂ
Don’t wait to the last minute to submit a translation project, because tough deadlines always call for extra translation cost. To get out of this sticky situation, plan enough time ahead for your project, so that enough time is dedicated to run the project successfully. A professional translation service provider would calculate the timeframe of the project, along with the cost. In case you provide tight deadlines or rush the whole project, this would result not only in higher costs, but also poor quality.
Embrace the Benefits of Technology
Technology can bring up the utmost help for you to avoid extra charges on your translation. Professional service providers can offer you technological tools like Translation Memory, in an effort to cooperate with you to reduce the translation cost of your project.
Translation Memory (TM) is a sustainable translation asset tool that stores and retrieves previous source and translated texts for future projects; it’s more like a database. Consequently, there’s no need for a linguist to translate previous work over again, which facilitates the whole translation process.  If anything, a tool like (TM) thoroughly pulls of the equation of fast turnarounds, minimum cost, and ultimately vouches for flawless quality and consistency.
Along with leveraging (TM) to the fullest, top-notch service providers makes the most of translation glossaries, style guides, and computer-assisted translation tool, which can drastically help keep your project within budget, because these tools are mainly used to improve consistency and save time, efforts, and accordingly cost.
Use the Help of a Professional Translation Service.
How many times have you laid eyes on ads promising a good-quality translation but for impossibly low costs? And how many times were you tempted? Oddly enough, while the expectations would go for a cheap alternative, we would never recommend going for that alternative.
NEVER get punked by these individuals or companies, because their credibility is compromised even before your translation quality is. Yes, you might guarantee a cut-rate translation, yet in return you are not only incurring a lot of stress until you get your job done, but also you are jeopardizing the whole project. Additionally, this is going to take more time; and eventually, it’s going to cost you more in the long run, because obviously time is money. So, instead of seeking a cheap or free translation provider, look for a proven professional provider with affordable translation costs.
Working with a professional translation provider fosters a long-term business partnership. Your work needs are completely understood and you take control of your part of the process. Â Also, with your professional translation provider, you can always find best ways together to reduce the costs. And, viola! You get the best deal; benefiting from their offers for reasonable translation costs in the future, while trusting that your projects are pieces of perfection.
Conclusion
You look for cheaper rates, we get it! However, you don’t want a cheap rate to be your sole goal in your translation projects. We encourage you to follow those doable tips to make your translation within your budget but without sacrificing quality.
BayanTech is a professional translation service that understands your huge interest in reasonable affordable cost charges. Thanks to our project managers, we work hard, driven by our belief in striking the best balance in the business equation of time, quality, and cost.
In BayaTech, our veteran translators and linguists work skillfully using the most advanced technological tools to ensure a robust fast-paced optimized workflow.
Get in touch with our team to talk about your projects.
