How to check the quality of your translation

An increasing number of businesses are using translation to gain new customers, attract investment funding, raise awareness of their brand and broker the most cost effective deals with international suppliers. However, it can be tricky knowing how to choose the best translation agency. Then, once you’ve chosen the agency, how do you know they’ve done a good job?

Checking translation quality

If you’ve hired a translation company to translate your corporate documents into a new language, the chances are you don’t speak that language fluently. If you did, why would you need a translation agency? Perhaps you speak a little of the language, but not enough to write professionally in it. Or perhaps you don’t speak it at all. In these circumstances, how do you ensure that your translation agency has produce a high quality translation if you can’t check it yourself?

In order to assure yourself of the quality of the translation, you’ll need a native speaker of that language. If you have a friend who speaks the language, that’s great. Coerce them into reviewing the translated document (or a section of it, at least), and then grill them thoroughly on how natural the language sounds, whether the phrasing is right and so forth. If they confirm that the language is tiptop, that’s great. If not, it could be time to find another translation company!

Of course, if you don’t have a friend/staff member/other acquaintance who speaks the target language, then it could be worth asking another translation agency to review the quality of the translated document. They will probably want a small fee for doing so, but it could be money well spent if it brings you peace of mind, knowing that your translation is flawless. 

Finding the right translation agency

If your business document translation is not up to standard, consider using a different translation company for your next translation. Decent companies should be clear on their pricing up-front, respond to your enquiries in a timely manner and provide you with a set deadline as to when you can expect to receive the translation from them. If a company doesn’t offer all of these things at the very least, move along!

The right business translation agency should be easy to deal with, cost effective and – most importantly – produce high quality translations that your company will be proud to be associated with. After all, the translated documents are going out in your company’s name, so it behoves you to ensure they are of the same standard as you would produce in your native language!