Alden Translations How To Get The Best From Your Translation Supplier. Tracy Fitzgerald, Translations and Marketing Manager for Alden Translations, has been in the translations business for over 14 years, working for many blue chip companies within the scientific, medical, pharmaceutical, biomedical and medical devices industries. With the imminent additions to the EU in May of this year, I thought it would be helpful to outline some of the pitfalls that can occur when dealing with translations, so I hope that some of the advice given below will help you avoid them. To a large degree, you as the customer can greatly influence the quality of the translation you will receive. You can contribute in the following ways to the quality of your final product: Whilst writing and preparing your text: Avoid or explain in house abbreviations and jargon. Avoid puns. They may be translatable, but could be offending in the target culture. Determine the intended target group for the translation, the required language – e.g. French or Canadian French, and writing style, i.e. specialist of layman. Allow for expansion of the text into the translated version. Your text may expand by up to 50% or even more in translation. This depends on the languages involved and the subject matter. Ensure to hand over an error-free, final version of your original. A well written original text is the most important single factor in ensuring a good translation. Your message and objective should be clear and understandable. Provide us with the best possible copy of your source documents. This becomes especially important when you are dealing with numbers and names that cannot be guessed form the content. Provide your text electronically if you can. Less work is involved for us in translating electronic documents. E-mail makes file transfer faster and more efficient. We even have an FTP site for very large documents to be sent and received. Schedule sufficient time as far in advance as possible to avoid tight deadlines and added expenses, therefore ensuring high quality translations. Be considerate and don’t expect us to translate a text that took you one week to write, and expect it to be translated in one day. Deliver your original documents on time. A lot of careful scheduling and planning is involved for us. Ensure that we have the correct contract and address information. Provide as much background information as possible about your project (i.e. previously completed translations, relevant brochures, correspondence, glossaries etc). In most cases, our translators are able to deliver better quality work if extensive back ground information if available for their review. If you have special concerns about your documents, please point them out to us before we start translating. Advise us why you need the document translated. It will help us to meet your particular needs if we know what the final document will be used for. Advantages of using a translation company: A translation company such as Alden Translation will have a whole range of specialists on their books, meaning there is more chance of finding the right translator for your particular language and subject area. In your search for the right person, it can save a lot of time and effort. We are also in the position of providing extra value services, to both our clients and our colleagues within the translation industry. It will have more resources than individual translators, as well as a good understanding of the translation industry and its variety of specialisms and needs. This combination allows AT to be flexible and competitive when responding to clients needs and to promote greater understanding of translations in the eyes of the public. The translation company should be able to offer some guarantees on quality. Alden offer full verification on our Premium Service. Many companies get a quote on each translation project, and award it to whichever agency is lowest. They don’t realise that staying with one high quality agency pays off over the longer term. Good agencies use many tools to reduce translation costs over time, and they can assign the same translators to your repeat projects, thus improving terminology, style and consistency. During the Translation Process: Do not wait until the last possible minute. If you are working to a deadline, try and get the material to us as early as possible before hand. Not only does the translating itself take time, but so does checking and proofreading. Inform us immediately of any changes, either in the work, itself or in any agreements made about the work. Make sure the document you are sending is a final version and that you are happy with the correctness of the language. Any amendments to a text and its subsequent translation involve extra administration work which may be charged for. This can be compounded by the number of targeted languages in a multi lingual project. If you know the number of words, please tell us. Appoint a contact person in your organisation to answer specific questions the translators or proofreaders may have during the project. Don’t be surprise or disappointed if terminology questions come back to you. Good translation work requires a lot of research in some cases, and good translators ask questions. The more you are able to help us with your knowledge and feedback, the better your translation will be. Our account manager assigned to your work will liaise with you on matters such as these. Have the contact person approve the glossaries of terms that relate to your project and style. Keep in mind that different terms may be used for the same concept in different industries and even by different companies within the same industry. Try to prevent additions and changes. Every additions means updating the text, the word count, invoice and administration of your project. Advantages of using Alden Translations: Full and thorough screening of translators Group work for large contracts Ready identification of translators to suite specific needs i.e. medically qualified specialists. Indemnity insurance Regular contact point with an assigned account manager and same translators used each time for your work. At Alden Translations, we can guarantee that relevantly qualified specialists will be used. Try and use a company that is ISO registered, as they will have full traceability of all your projects. Confidentiality - We will always consider whatever document we translate as confidential, but a good agency will not hesitate to sign formal agreements with customers. Full project management After the translation process: If you feel that your documents require special attention, consider having a second translator proofread your document. We can offer this as part of our Premium Service. Give us feedback on the work completed. It will help us to keep your specific requirements in mind, next time around. And most of all, build long terms relations with your translation agency, based on mutual trust, respect and cooperation.