When doing some research on Google recently, we noticed that their results page has started to feature many questions about how translation services work. Well, we’re here to help.
Below, we explore some of the most popular questions on Google from people curious about translation.
1) How do translation services work?
Translation services are simple in their concept but are complex and nuanced in practice. They take a source document and translate this into a target language.
Many people believe this to be a purely linguistic pursuit and simple service, but the reality is a true translation service carries across the meaning and context to ensure that the end result is fully understood and has the required impact and outcome for the reader in the new target market.
The client submits a document, states target languages and timescales and then one of our experienced Bubbles project managers produce a personalised quote quickly, usually within 30 minutes. Beware of automated quote systems for anything more than an initial guide; many service providers use them as a hook to entice you with low prices. Often our clients have benchmarked them against the actual, personalised quotes once they’ve submitted their documentation and the figures can be wildly different.
Once we are confident we understand your project, we will use the best suited translator for the job, matching their experience, language skill and sector qualifications and experience with your requirements and give you a great value price.
Whatever your project, we can help. We offer a variety of translation services; we can translate marketing and sales documents, including websites as well as technical specification guides, manuals and instruction booklets across a wide range of sectors.
Some of the languages we translate into include: Arabic, Turkish, Chinese, Japanese, French, German and Spanish, among many more of course!
Our guaranteed quality assurance supports every translation. To discuss your project, contact us today.
2) How much does a translator charge per hour?
At Bubbles, we charge per project, rather than by the hour. As each requirement is different there are a number of factors to address when costing a project and it’s not always as simple as hourly rates. The time taken to translate can fluctuate even when the projects look similar on paper. Here’s a brief guide to these factors:
- Word counts – the number of words is the most critical factor when costing a document. When costing a document we will run a word count to understand how many words need to be translated. We recently wrote a blog about the most difficult language to translate into. This goes into detail about how some languages can be wordier than others.
- Language combination – rarer languages and those that use characters rather than words are generally more expensive as they usually require a more specialist skillset to translate, and there are fewer translators available, which pushes up the price.
- Type of translation – we handle a lot of technical translations for our clients across sectors such as biotechnology, mechanical and industrial engineering, and other complex technological and detailed industries. This specialism means that we use native speakers with degree-level or postgraduate qualifications in the specific field too. In addition, these technical translations often have a “standardised” linguistic style for each client which takes expertise to apply consistently. As such, the prices for a detailed technical user manual of 4,000 words may well be different to a lighter blog article of 4,000 words – even when the source and target languages required are the same.
- Formatting – Word documents which can be directly edited can lead to lower costs compared to un-editable file formats such as PDF. Because it is more difficult to estimate the number of words in a PDF where a word count cannot be obtained, we use advanced optical character recognition tools to ensure our quote is accurate. For clients, if a text file is available, we advise it be tracked down and shared with us to allow us to offer you the best price.
3) What are the benefits of translation services?
Our translators are language and subject matter experts. This means we can offer accurate, guaranteed and accredited translations. We work with levels of quality assurance you simply don’t get from freelancers or Google Translate!
As language experts our translators will use the right words in the right context, choose the right tone for the audience and apply their understanding of your field.
We can also offer fast turnarounds for short deadlines and accommodate new requests with little notice.
Our years of experience speaks for itself in several sectors – from manufacturing to medical. This means we’ve faced every form of translation challenge, whether it’s a technical problem, legal document or marketing material.
4) Who uses translation services?
Our main point of contact is usually within marketing and sales departments for translations to help growth, as well as project managers, technical managers and many more titles as we support product literature when entering different countries.
We’re trusted by over 1,380 companies. In fact, we’re privileged to call some of the world’s biggest and most discerning brands our clients. Read our client case studies on the previous link to learn more.
Our clients, include:
Coca-Cola, Disney, HSBC, Intel, Jaguar, Lego, Levis, Microsoft, Pepsi
5) Why is there a need for translation services?
If you’re not convinced, there are even more reasons why people use translation services!
Crucially, the quality of skilled professional translation beats automated translations and translation by non-experts. On the other hand, using a native speaker unskilled in translation is not usually a successful approach.
Our translators also have cultural understanding, with insight into the nuances of different markets, making it more likely that you’ll avoid any gaffes and costly mistakes in overseas markets.
Professional translators also use specialised software to enable accuracy and consistency of translation, this enables translation to be turned around more quickly and helps errors be avoided, which is why we can confidently offer a quality guarantee.
Ask us your burning translation questions
If you have further questions and want to know why translation is right for your business, feel free to get in touch with our experienced project managers who will be delighted to help.
