How to time your business translation perfectly

So many things depend on perfect timing, from baking to business deals. One of them is professional translation. Knowing when to start your translation process is key to it being a stress-free part of your business operations. 

If you know that the project you’re working on is going to involve using a translation service, then it’s time to engage a translation agency. Many companies leave this until the point where they need the translation to start, but this is not a task to be left to the last minute. 

Finding the right translation agency isn’t always a quick task. You need to allow time to assess an agency’s quality, customer service and responsiveness, as well as its costs. Some companies also like to set test translations for potential agency partners to complete – if this is part of your approach, then you need to allow time for that too. 

Once you’ve engaged a translation agency, it’s then time to brief them on the job in question. This, too, can take time. If you’ve committed resources to shaping and defining your company ethos and values, for example, then it can help to share these with the translation agency, so that they are appropriately reflected in the translations that the agency produces for you. The same is true of any marketing goals – it will help the translation agency to know what these are when working on your website translation or marketing brochure translation, for example. 

Then there’s localization. Allowing time for copy to be localized is another part of the process. Remember that localization applies to images as well, so be sure to speak with your localization company about culturally appropriate images as well as text. 

Given all of this, it’s important to engage your translation agency at the earliest possible stage in a project. Doing so will ensure that you can get the best out of the agency and that the process can be a calm and stress-free one. 

If you would like to speak to someone about the best way to approach your business translation, please contact the Tomedes team.