What to Look For When Choosing a Translation Company for Market Research
The translating industry in the United Kingdom is unregulated; anyone can advertise themselves as a translator, regardless of their experience or qualifications. Therefore it is essential to follow a number of precautions before choosing a translator.
Like most translation companies, they will either be specialists in an area of translation or their translators will be specialists in a specific area - market research is no exception, as this too is a specialist area and requires specialist skills. Effective translation is not just about translating words, it is just as important that the culture and social norms of the target language are conveyed properly.
It is important that Market research is translated unambiguously and that the results are uniform across all the languages. The translator needs to ensure that all colloquialisms, puns and idioms are accurately reflected in the translation. They should also have sub category specialist translators covering areas such as finance, technology, FMCG and pharmaceuticals.
You should check their professional credentials and if they have accessible case studies, study them closely. Check to see if they are members of any organisations such as the ATC, ITI, IOL or ALC, membership for these organisations ensures that the companies' service meets the required standards; the organisation will continue to monitor the performance of its members. An ISO 90001 accreditation is where the translation service is annually inspected, ensuring that they are reliable and consistent and that their processes are fit for purpose.
The company should also use translators that translate into their mother tongue only to ensure complete accuracy and they should also ideally be based in the target country, as this will mean they keep up with changes in business, laws and new terms and trends.
You should be able to contact the translation company at any time; global questionnaires often run simultaneously all over the world so you should be able to contact them 24/7 for any changes or questions.
Check to see if the company uses translation technology, this will act as an extension of human translations and is important in keeping translations consistent and at a high quality, with reduced costs and time. Some questionnaires are very similar to previously translated ones, therefore translation technology and accurate proofreading will avoid the need for complete re-translations, where this is not necessary. Market research questionnaires cannot be translated by machines; they are not capable of being accurate and cannot translate nuances, sensitive cultural items or branding considerations. Never accept machine translations for your market research requirements.
Related Translate Articles