Get the Best From Translation Services - By: Jamie Simpson

What type of translation service a client chooses depends on the expected outcome. For some, who have one-time-only or small projects, the services of an independent, professional freelancer may offer the best short-term solution. For those clients with high-volume, ongoing translation requirements, a translation company is usually the better option.

Freelance vs. Translation Companies

While a freelancer's translation work may be every bit as accurate as a document generated by a translation company, freelancers cannot usually handle a wide language range or a heavy workload. Freelancers often charge more than a translation company for the same work, without being able to offer the same guarantee of workmanship or document security. For occasional translation needs, a freelancer may be all that a client requires, but for extensive work in specific areas with multiple languages, a translation company will excel.

Translation Company Services

Because translation companies are numerous and competitive, many offer online services with instant, comparable quotes based on project size, expected turnaround time and necessary quality controls. Translation companies have a large staff base of competent translators skilled in multiple language pairs. Language pairs involve knowing both the source language, which is the original language of a text, and the target language, or the language into which the source language is being translated.

Professional translation providers are usually those whose native language is also the target language, while their second language is the source language. Having native translators on staff ensures that the client's text will be translated into a target language that also takes dialect and local culture into consideration, using both metaphrasing, or word-for-word literal translation, and paraphrasing, which is needed when there are no words in a target language that match the source language. For client satisfaction, the meaning of the source document must never be lost when it is translated into the target language.

Back Translation

Since it is not likely that a client is familiar enough with the target language to know if a translation will meet exact specifications, translation companies also employ back translators. Back translators are assigned documents that have already been translated to a target language and translate them once more into the source language to guarantee to the client that the translation is faithful to the source with no distortion of meaning or clarity.

Translation Company Management

Working with a freelancer, a client may have just one point of contact, but by using a translation company, there may be several employees involved including project coordinators, multiple translators and quality and security control experts. Many translation companies provide full-time customer support and interaction, allowing clients full access in order to easily ask questions, update or follow the progress of a translation project.

Exclusivity in Translation Services

Some companies provide exclusive translation services in specialized fields for business, medical, legal, marketing, technical or financial clients. These types of translation companies employ professional translators who not only specialize in language translation, but who are well-versed in the particular field in which a client operates.

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