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Nobody likes the idea of spending money on a product or service, when it’s possible (or seems possible) to obtain it for no additional cost. How likely are you to hire movers when you’re changing residences locally, if you’ve got a friend with a truck? If your car needs minor repairs, and your uncle has the right tools and set-up, you won’t be in a hurry to pay a garage.
The same goes for translation services, for individuals and businesses alike – let’s talk about businesses here. Translation and localization aren’t always prioritized in a company’s budget. For a company with little experience in foreign markets, the decision to translate can come late in the process, when funds that could have gone to language services may have been spent elsewhere. So, if you’re preparing to translate your first manual into Spanish, you may find yourself faced with two choices. Two doors, if you like.
Behind door number 1: a quote for professional translation services, including proofreading and desktop publishing, and entailing an unexpected outlay of a few hundred dollars, or even a few thousand.
Behind door number 2: a Spanish-speaking employee of your business (let’s call him “Carlos from Accounts Payable”), who’s willing to do the work and won’t strain the budget.
As tempting as it is to hand the job to Carlos from Accounts Payable, is it really the best idea to handle your translation projects internally*? Think of the problems this could cause:
Allocation of time: Carlos already has an important job with your company, and translation isn’t the kind of the project that can be handled over a series of free moments. He’ll need to focus on the translation to do a good job, which will lead to the rest of Accounts Payable having to pick up the slack; alternatively, he’ll handle the translation “when he has the time”, and the translation quality will suffer for it.
Linguistic expertise: Carlos is an eloquent guy, very approachable, writes a good business letter, and he’s bilingual. Awesome! However, can you be sure of his expertise with your subject matter’s terminology in Spanish? What about the variant? Carlos and his family speak Castilian Spanish… is your manual meant for Latin America?
Quality review: are you prepared to gauge the quality of Carlos’ translation when he’s finished? This is your first venture into a foreign language market. Will you trust that it’s “good enough”?
Now, what do you get from a professional translation service?
Translation memory and terminology: professional translators have access to translation management software and CAT tools, to store your approved translations for future use, and compile a glossary of your business’ preferred terminology in the target language.
Coordinated content creation: wouldn’t you rather have a team of expert linguists and project managers at the ready, to coordinate their efforts with your authors, and translate your documents with the same care that went into creating them?
Peace of mind: this speaks for itself… with your documents in professional hands for translation, you don’t have to worry. No one on your team needs to add to their workload. And you can rest assured of the final product’s quality.
Bilingual team members are always an asset, there’s no doubt about that. You’re lucky to have Carlos in Accounts Payable! In fact, we would love to have him involved in the translation process – as a Spanish speaker with an insider’s knowledge of your business, he’s in an ideal position to be one of those SME reviewers we’re always encouraging you to have. With a little translation-specific training from us, you’ll have an excellent translation set-up. Just leave the translation part to the pros!
* This post excludes businesses on a scale large enough to have their own internal translation divisions. If your business has an international presence that can support one of these, congratulations!
