Client input is important

Ask what you can do for your translator.

Your translator has a wealth of experience, technical craft and business judgment that come into play on every project.

But you may be surprised to learn that what you put into a job is just as vital as what the translator brings to it. What can you do to be sure of getting the best translation service?

• Tell the translator for what purpose you need the document translated. Translators can adapt their services to meet your needs - but you must tell them what those needs are.
• Schedule jobs as far in advance as you can. Any service provider can meet your requirements better with an idea of what is coming. Avoid the trouble, expense and risk involved with rush jobs.
• Send the translator an editable file to work from. Using editable copy is now standard procedure and greatly facilitates stylistic and terminological consistency. Source copy on paper or by fax, or PDFs with images rather than retrievable text, may be more expensive to have translated.
• Send the pictures. Translators work with meanings and concepts, not just words. If graphic information is useful to the reader, it will be useful to the translator, too. Never send parts lists without drawings. (Is that Scheibe a washer, a spacer, a disk, a plate, a web, a blank, or a wheel?)
• Listen to questions. You may be the only one who has the answer  (internal company terminology, shop talk, client-specific terminology or abbreviations).
• Let your translator know what you thought of the work. A critique by a specialist, with pointers to terminology and reference materials, will benefit your future projects.