subject: How to prepare for a translation project and get the translation you want (a client's perspective) [print this page] How to prepare for a translation project and get the translation you want (a client's perspective)
Know and understand yourself and your goals. Focus on exactly what you want to achieve before any work starts on the project:
- Purpose of the translation (personal use, corporate needs, full-scale marketing campaign etc.);
- Target audience (you and your friends, employees of your company, potential customers);
- Ask yourself if your text has just a few technical words that every translator can find in a dictionary, or it is something that can not be accomplished with research and dictionaries. If the second is your case, then you need a translator with a background in the subject matter of your translation, someone who has actually worked or studied in the relevant field.
Build trust and credibility for yourself. Get yourself a professional email address that includes your name, your website domain name.
(Not for example: rooneykid@hotmail.com or lisa2786@gmail.com.) From the point of view of a self-employed translator, it is a warning sign that this person may not be the most serious and diligent worker around.
Describe your potential project. (Topic, subject area, languages, purpose of the translation, document format, approx. word count, What is your preferred deadline?, Is this fixed or flexible?)
Give a translator any other details that will help him/her to provide you with the right information (your additional requirements, questions, notes, comments, suggestions, etc.)
Provide as many additional materials (explanation of key terms in the product, previously acceptable translations) as possible, so that a translator, who is by nature quite interested in quality, can understand the product and context with minimal delay.
Choose the contact person for terminology consultations who can answer translator's questions quickly to keep the project from getting bogged down.
It is also sometimes helpful to conduct a training session (onsite meeting, conference call, webinar) for translator, wherever in the world they may be, to guide him/her through the basics of the product and its application.
