Five questions you should ask your potential translation service provider

When it comes to choosing the right translation service provider, companies are faced with a confusing number of small, medium, and large providers.
To find the right partner, there are questions and aspects that are quite individual. But there are also at least five standard questions that, in our experience, should never be missing from a selection process. Here we have compiled them.

What are the criteria used to select suitable translators?

This question is particularly important because the core of our service is based on the quality that each translator delivers every day.

Therefore, make sure to use only professional translators and linguists who meet the criteria of the ISO 17100 standard (“Requirements for translation services”). The standard specifies which qualifications and competences of translators and revisers must be demonstrated and kept up to date through regular training.

Tip: Most service providers work with freelance translators. Freelancers have different clients and thus usually also different specialist topics into which they are immersed and which they translate. Therefore, continuous cooperation with freelancers makes sense: If a service provider always works with the same freelancers, this increases their knowledge in the respective specialty and thus also the quality. Therefore, ask for continuity in the cooperation.

How do you ensure the quality of translations?

This question is no less important, because only good quality management leads to consistently high translation quality.

Ask your potential service provider about its quality management or quality management system. Ask what the steps are in the quality assurance process. The revision of the translation by another linguist, for example, is a requirement from ISO 17100. Beyond that, are there other steps in the process that reduce the likelihood of errors? These can be general quality checks in the tools used or final checks based on your own specific criteria.

The minimum standards for translation services are defined in the ISO 17100 standard. It may therefore be useful to ask whether the service provider is certified accordingly. In addition, it is important that a feedback system shows the translator(s) which corrections have been made during quality assurance to keep the learning process going.

What industry-specific technologies do you use?

With this question, you can ask about minimum standards (the use of CAT tools) as well as, for example, the use of external tools for quality assurance. And you can try to assess the extent to which the output of current content technologies can be handled by the LSP. An example of an area with rapid technological development is machine translation, specifically neural machine translation. This technology will gain in importance. And even if you don’t see many areas of application at the moment, you should think ahead in this regard and keep this option open – unless you don’t mind changing service providers again in the medium term.

Is terminology work being done?

Terminology work should be carried out continuously, especially in the case of long-term cooperation.

It should be expected that with every translation above a certain volume, new terminology can be detected and translated and approved by you, the client. In addition, there should be offerings for more advanced terminology work with more complex approval processes, client access to terminology, etc.

Can you provide references in my industry?

It would be best to get not only the names of companies with which the service provider is already working. Perhaps one or two satisfied customers will make themselves available for an interview. Or there are case studies.

Although sometimes confidentiality is paramount, a report on working with a similar company helps a lot in assessing whether the service provider in question is the best option. So the question is definitely worth asking.

Conclusion

When choosing your translation service provider, take the time to ask these questions, and others specific to your needs. By carefully planning and carrying out your selection process, you reduce the risk of being confronted with major surprises in the first months after the start of the collaboration.