Revealing your personal information to a stranger, whether it is a birth certificate or even your school grades, may be overwhelming. Sometimes however, especially when dealing with business or study purposes abroad, it becomes necessary to translate your personal documents. Independently of your personal requirement, knowing that your documents are in good hands, is crucial when you need to hire a translation service provider. Trustworthiness and confidence in your translator is a main factor when picking one out from an extensive range of options.
These are some of the elements to consider when choosing the best option for you:
1. DEFINE THE SPECIFIC SERVICE YOU NEED BEFORE YOU LOOK FOR YOUR TRANSLATION PROVIDER
As an individual or a Corporate entity, the specificity of your requirement will determine the most competitive service.
If your boss requires you to look for a translation provider for your contracts, you should be looking for lawyers or companies with legal translation services in their portfolios. Nobody wants a translation mistake in an international negotiation to halt a multi-national agreement from going through.
As an individual, you should probably check the specific requirement for your translation. If you need documents for immigration or study purposes, please enquire with the entity that is demanding them, if they have specific protocols in place such as Apostilles, legalizations or notarizations. Every institution has their own procedures, therefore requesting different elements in the presentation of your translations. Some translation service providers will help you with the entire document management process, while others will only provide the document in the target language. Make sure you know what you need before you hire a translator. You may not want to be surprised by a rejected document due to a missing stamp when you get overseas.
2. TRANSLATION COMPANY VS INDIVIDUAL TRANSLATOR
Again, when you are looking for a translation service provider, one of the main elements you want to consider is the guarantee that your translation job will be well done. Usually translation companies would be the correct answer here, since they are considered to be more reliable than individuals. Companies have a name to look after, and a poor review may affect their business negatively, so you would think that they would certify or guarantee your end product as much as possible.
On the other hand, an individual who is a professional in the specific topic which you are requiring to be translated, may actually fit your needs better. While a translation company may shoot a lead to a database of translators, who they may not even know or screen, it is easy for you to request references from an individual and do a quick reference check on the translator’s previous yield through his or her own clients.
3. PAY YOUR WORTH
When communicating in a multi-language environment, there are many options. Being bilingual is not the same as being fluent or even remotely similar as to being able to connect ideas in writing. Therefore, Prices range from basic level communication skills and google translation or CAT- translations, to highly specific language terminology.
The difference between translating the short notes of the Spanish book you didn’t read for class, and translating a medical article for publication in a scientific magazine lies in the specificity of the language used, the target audience, the purpose of the translation, the technical difficulty and the writing style. Another factor that may affect the cost of the translation, related to your specific need, is the requirement for a certified and notarized translation.
Always consider that a cheap translation quote will probably result in a poor translation job.
