Having 15+ years of experience in the language services industry, Senior Translation Project Manager Stephanie Casale has spent a lot of time evaluating the scopes and budgets of translation projects.
Below, Casale shares four ways you and your language support partner can work together to trim costs and make language support more affordable for your organization:
Over the years, I've seen businesses and organizations grow anxious when considering the costs associated with robust language support services.
But besides the fact that the service is necessary, there are ways to effectively reduce the overall spend on translation projects.
1. Thorough Onboarding
During onboarding, you can help your LSP prepare by supplying samples of common documents and brand terminology that you and your staff use frequently; this will assist them in building out your organization's term library. The more industry-specific your terminology, or the more specialized your branding, the more difficult it can be to localize appropriately. Providing as much information as possible will help your provider determine how best to translate, which will save time by minimizing follow-up questions, and reduce the cost of additional post-edit revisions.
The more thorough the research on the front end of onboarding and implementation, the less likely you are to encounter speed bumps later on, saving not only cost, but time.
2. Leveraging Technology
Many people are wary of computer translations, and it isn't always without reason -- machines have difficulty capturing cultural nuances or idiomatic meanings. In its crudest form, relying on a computer to directly translate word-for-word can produce language that's robotic, with words and phrases clumsily strung together or that significantly miss the mark on meaning (think Google Translate). However, your LSP can help you leverage the benefits of technology while reducing the risk of inaccuracies or subpar quality.
Machine Translation - The accuracy of machine translation has come a long way and, when leveraged correctly, can be a cost-saver. LSP's leverage this technology plus the addition of a human editor in order to maximize both speed and fluency, saving you both time and money. A good language support partner can work with you to determine when machine translation might be a realistic option.
Translation Memory - Using special software, your LSP’s Computer-Assisted Translation, or CAT Tool, can build a repository of phrases and terminology that appear in your past translations. Using this repository, your LSP can reduce the cost of translating repeated text, while enabling linguists to maintain quality and consistency.
3. Prioritizing Based on Your Needs
Language support isn't one-size-fits-all, and it doesn't have to be all-or-nothing. If budget is holding you back from going all-in on language services, you may want to consider a piecemeal approach.A good place to start is translating frequently used documents. For example, for health services, getting patient intake forms translated into your most common languages can be a great first step. Having pre-translated forms ready ahead of time can help you avoid rush fees for translation if an urgent situation arises. Even using different methodology may help you meet time and budget restraints.
Work with your language support provider to assess the most immediate needs for your organization. Together, you can prioritize and develop a plan for addressing the highest impact issues first. Then, gradually work your way toward a more cohesive translation experience for your limited-English proficiency customers in a way that makes sense for your organization.
4. Unlock the Value of Language Services
Remember, language support isn't just an added cost but an investment that can positively impact your bottom line. The right language partner can help you understand the value language support and technology brings to your business by providing projections and ongoing reporting based on real data.
With the right partner, making even a small investment now may help grow your business, as well as your ability to provide more customized language solutions in the future.
Want to learn more?
Reach out to get in touch with one of our language support experts today and find out how your business can benefit from GLOBO's platform.
