For Companies: Optimum Translation Allocation Strategies

In a previous article, we examined how companies address their requirements by using internal and freelance translators or translation service providers.

This article describes the alternative approaches of centralized and decentralized allocation of translations and why companies opt for one or several translation service providers.

Translation Management department as a central contact point

One department manages the central allocation of translations company-wide. The Translation Management (or Language Service) department chooses service providers (usually together with the Purchasing department), sets up framework agreements and assigns all translations which need to be done. The advantage of a central Translation Management department is that they will receive all incoming translation inquiries and the individual specialist departments will not have to deal with this matter.

The tasks of the Translation Management department in the company include:

• administrating translation memories and terminological databases,
• defining and implementing optimum translation and terminology processes,
• selecting a translation tool,
• checking and, if necessary, preparing the translation jobs,
• maintaining relations with translation partners.

A central Translation Management department is only worthwhile when there is a constant company-wide translation volume.

Companies without a Translation Management department

For companies without a Translation Management department, the Purchasing department can centrally allocate the orders from the specialist departments – or the contact persons in these specialist departments can allocate them. This is often perceived as tedious, because colleagues in the specialist departments and in the Purchasing department are usually not familiar with translation processes. This means that critical information or instructions may not be taken into consideration. Another issue is the exchange of information. It can happen that one specialist department assigns a document to translation service provider A and another specialist department assigns a document, which is very similar in terms of content, to translation service provider B. The result: two terminologically and stylistically different translations (perhaps not of the same quality, either) of two linguistically homogeneous texts.

Companies without a Translation Management department: One language service provider

It can therefore be a good idea for companies without a Translation Management department to work with just one partner. This is because when many people from different departments in a company are responsible for translations, one translation service provider, working alone, is in a better position to bundle orders, develop cross-links, identify synergies and maintain the central terminological databases and translation memories. It is essential that the service provider points out possible synergies to the client. The service provider can also manage the overall translation costs for the company.

Companies with a Translation Management department: One or several language service providers

Companies with a Translation Management department can decide to have several or just one translation partner. Of course, language service providers often argue in favour of having just one partner:

• one single external contact person for everything,
• standardized processes and consistent quality,
• overhead costs are only charged once,
• central maintenance of translation memories and terminological databases for all languages,
• permanent teams of translators for all languages,
• cost-effectiveness by means of a volume discount,
• simple budget control by one accounting office.

Many of these arguments have some merit. It makes little sense to ask several service providers about a translation for the language combination German into English and to choose a different provider every time depending on the respective offer. This leads to inconsistent quality, divergence in terminology, and in the long term it reduces the reusability of the translation memory.

However, there are also arguments in favour of working with several partners:

• risk minimization in case one partner is absent or does not have enough capacity,
• better scaling capabilities,
• division of partners by target languages,
• inclusion of preferred language service providers of respective country subsidiaries,
• use of partners’ different expertise.

Having several language service providers can therefore also be a reasonable alternative. It depends on the situation within the company: on the size and diversification, the translation volume, the number of target languages, the integration of country subsidiaries, the translation tool, the current partner’s capacity, etc.

The number of partners should, however, remain manageable and cooperation with them should be long-term. The distribution of translations among partners should follow a clear strategy in order to avoid inconsistencies and additional costs.

Our rule of thumb

Companies with a Translation Management department: One or several translation partners.

Companies without a Translation Management department: Preferably only one translation partner.

Regardless of whether you have one or several language partners: Loyal collaboration with language service provider(s) is the basic requirement for success. These language service providers should respond to the specific needs and requirements of your company in a transparent, open and flexible way.