Translation management

There is no shortage of language service providers. But how do you recognize a good language service provider? What criteria should be considered when looking for a language service provider or translator? What points should definitely be included in a tender text?

Especially if you do not have the necessary know-how in-house, it may be advisable to obtain external support. We will be happy to answer all these questions and more for you and support you in the decision.

A framework contract with a language service provider is on the agenda. What points should definitely be included?

We will check the suggested contract you have available and explain to you which points could possibly be improved.

As globalization intensifies, more and more attention is focused on the issue of multiple languages and translation – and with it also the cost of translation – in terms of technical documentation, marketing and corporate communication.

The only way you can successfully handle costs and quality is through appropriate processes. Perhaps you would like to centralize translation management in your company, reduce the number of language service providers and translators and use your own project manager, or you have introduced a new content management system and now you would like to revise and adapt your translation processes.

We will discuss the best possible strategy for a course of action with you, based on the circumstances of your company.

There are many different reasons for inadequate translation quality. It is not always due to a poor translator. Often it is the result of different factors interacting. To achieve improvements in this area, sometimes only minor details need to be adjusted. Often, however, an entire process must be reworked.

We pass our many years of practical experience in translation management on to you, providing competent consulting as you introduce new translation processes or optimize existing ones.

A translation manual or style guide containing your processes and work steps is an important means for ensuring consistently high translation quality. Since every company is unique, there are no standard solutions for manuals of this kind. They must be created individually or adapted to the relevant structures and specific features of a company.

We will be happy to develop a translation style guide customized to your needs. Together with your sales branch offices in other countries and language service providers, we can also create language-specific style guides.

We show you in workshops what translation management is and why it makes sense to use it, either on a small or large scale. Perhaps you have already made this decision and even chosen an employee for the role of translation manager. All that’s missing is a little practical experience that goes beyond actual project management, for example to develop and improve your translation processes.

We will be happy to coach your employee, deepen his specialist knowledge and support him in technical questions so he can acquire the necessary routine and expertise. If you lack the resources internally to make employees familiar with new translation processes, we will be happy to take on this task and conduct appropriate training sessions for you at your location.

To see whether a process is really efficient, you have to measure it and be able to compare it. The success of a project and whether it has achieved its goals can also be demonstrated by the right key figures.

We will be pleased to support you and your company in developing a concept for suitable key figures and KPIs (Key Performance Indicators) in the area of translation management.

When is a translation bad? This question is often a highly subjective one. We will develop a weighted criteria catalogue with you that helps you evaluate the quality of translations more objectively and according to uniform standards.

Of course you don’t just want to measure how good or bad the quality of your translated texts is, you want to improve the translation quality of your texts in general.
Searching for the cause of inadequate translations in the translator or language service provider often seems natural, but doesn’t always provide satisfactory results.

Usually you have to start much earlier, specifically in your original texts. Measures such as introducing writing rules, controlled language, tool-supported style checking or authoring support as well as terminology work will not only improve the quality of translations, they often result in significantly lower translation costs as well.

That’s because clearer language and more uniform and consistent texts will lead to a significantly higher rate of hits (match values) in the translation memory (your database with text units that already have been translated in the source and target language from previous translation projects). This also reduces other process costs such as managing questions between author and translator or language service provider.

We will be happy to develop a concept with you that will allow you to sustainably improve the translation quality of your texts and/or support you in introducing and implementing a concept for this purpose.

Do you have an extensive or complex translation project on the agenda but insufficient internal resources to handle the project, but on the other hand you also don’t want to hand it over entirely to your language service provider?

We will take on the project management for you with a set time limit, ensure planning and on-time implementation, carry out quality assurance measures, check the quality of the delivered documents, organize proofreading if necessary by your sales branch offices in the relevant countries and much more.