What to Expect From a Translation Service?

While English is widely spoken and understood around the globe, reaching people is much more efficient when it’s done in their native language. How then to make sure that your message is conveyed properly, especially if you don’t know the language in question? A language partner offering premium quality translation is the answer to that problem.

In one form or another, translation services have been around as long as people have recorded things in writing. From Rosetta Stone to the modern translation practices, the core is to speak to the audience in a language they understand. Today, translation services can operate in a very traditional mode with texts emailed back and forth between the client, agency, translator, and proofreader. At the other end of the spectrum, one would find a company like MotaWord, with a cloud-based smart platform supporting human translators and offering transparency and efficiency for all processes. When choosing a translation partner there are at least four qualities to consider: Quality of translation, translation costs, speed of translation, and security and confidentiality.

Quality of Translation

The quality of translation is determined by multiple factors: the quality of the linguists, their training and commitment, as well as the translation quality management systems in use. To accurately monitor translator quality MotaWord has introduced a Translator Quality Score. First, we calculate the accuracy as the percentage of translated strings needing no edits by the proofreader. Then we compare that number with the average accuracy score of all translators in the same project and determine a TQS for each one. With this kind of data-based approach, the best translators can be selected to work in the projects.

On the other hand, translation quality control is enhanced with MotaWord’s collaborative translation approach which ensures that the translators get feedback from colleagues and the proofreader in real-time.

Cost of Translation Services

Translation costs are typically measured as translation cost per word. The prices may vary significantly depending on the provider and can be affected by such factors as workflow management and the tools available for the translators. Moreover, tools such as translation memory that increase the quality of translation also decrease the price as previously translated segments will not be translated again.

Speed of Translation

The question of how long does it take to translate a document is a very relevant factor in choosing a translation partner. The average translation speed per hour is fairly similar among skilled translators. It is the operating environment that will make a difference. Here MotaWord’s cloud-based collaborative platform really shines. As all project management functions are covered by artificial intelligence the translators can concentrate on translating and don’t have to spend any time in formatting or other such tasks. In addition, the collaborative aspect of the platform allows multiple translators to work together speeding up the process. Moreover, the proofreader can start editing the text simultaneously resulting in even higher quality and speed.

Security and Confidentiality

No proprietary information should be sent via email. Hacking into emails iIs a digital equivalent of picking a lock with a hairpin. Yet amazingly, often sensitive documents are emailed from agency to translator and from translator to proofreader and so forth. With MotaWord that is not the case. Everything happens at our constantly monitored platform, and all data is stored at the same secure servers that host Dow Jones, Citrix, and SAP, with ISO 27001 certification.

The platform model makes sure that no outsider will have your company’s sensitive information on their computer. MotaWord translators perform all work at our platform adding another layer of security and confidentiality to the NDA they have of course signed while joining the team.

To summarize, you should not be forced to choose between speed, accuracy, confidentiality, and price when looking for a translation partner. With MotaWord you can expect your translation agency to provide all four!