Translation Vendors: Tips for Selecting the Right Language Service Provider (LSP)

Translation and localization managers are busy people who always have important meetings and things to do other than searching for vendors. They are always in need of finding a top-level language service provider who can offer the best results at the best rates.

But where they should start?

The first question which should get raised by translation managers is: “Do we need a high-level quality vendor or a low-cost one?” This is considered the starting a question, then a series of questions can be raised and answered,and based upon these answers, they can decide the level of language service providers they are looking for.

Best practices for selecting your language service provider

1. Scope

• Do they cover all the requested languages?
• Do they provide all the language services?
• How many translation vendor resources do they have?
• Do they handle different file formats for translation?
• Do they have offices at multiple locations covering different time zones? 

1. Team

• How many employees do they have?
• Do they have an in-house or freelance team?
• Do they have enough linguists to finish your project on time?
• Does the team has previous experience in your field?
• Do they have project managers working on your time zone and are committed and responsive?

1. Skills

• Do they have expertise in the requested languages?
• Do they have the ability to provide extra services that might be needed in the future?
• Is the team trained to use technical translation tools like TMS, CMS, glossaries..etc?
• Do they have experience in providing engineering services or desktop publishing services?
• Is their team capable of handling programs like XML, or providing different file formats?
• Do they work manually or using a translation management system that is accessible and fast?
• Is the team ISO certified, or they hold any types of certification or accreditation?

1. Volume of Work

• How many words can they deliver per day/per translator?
• How are they committed to deadlines?
• Can they cover engineering services and for how many hours?
• Do they provider software localization and testing services?

1. Technology

• Do they provide technical services like translation, memory, machine translation, translation machine post-editing, and glossaries?
• Do they have the tools for multilingual publishing and engineering?
• Do they have different computer-assisted translation (CAT) tools like memoq, Trados, and SDL?
• Do they offer DTP services with different software programs like Quark, Microsoft Publisher, and Adobe InDesign.
• Do they have the latest version of all tools?

1. Price

• How do they charge for their services? Per-word, or per hour or based on the project?
• Do they offer different rates for using machine translation?
• Do they offer cost-saving options for translation, such as using translation memory?

Getting answers to these questions will give translation managers some insights about the right language service provider. Also, sometimes they require multiple numbers of expert language service providers just to ensure avoiding the risks of high market demands, price fluctuations, and sudden translation needs. Multilanguage vendors either request:

• Small language service providers

Mainly, they have one office and support one language. They might have a small number of in-house linguists and they can outsource the rest of their project. Why partnering with small LSPs is important? They charge very competitive prices in comparison to other LSPs. Plus it’s a channel for establishing direct relationships with small LSPs.

• Medium language service providers

They might have more than one office in different locations and are capable of supporting a small number of languages in addition to other language services. Their prices might be slightly more than the small LSPs, and that’s why they may focus on a small number of clients to maintain long term work relations.

• Large language service providers

They have multiple offices around the world with a large number of employees from different nationalities to support clients in different time zones. They support a large number of languages, can handle large-scale projects in different industries, and they have a huge number of resources. 

EuroLingo is considered one of the leading language service providers, headquartered in Poland and with offices in The Czech Republic, Romania, and Russia. We have many years of experience of partnering with multiple MLVS, offering comprehensive translation services to an array of businesses around the world, including those working in the automotive, financial, healthcare, and education sectors – and you can be next.

We offer translation services in every Eastern European Language for both everyday and advanced translation projects, including document translation, editing, proofing, and transcription, as well as technical software engineering and localization. No matter how big or small your project is, our highly-qualified team of expert and passionate translation experts has you covered.

We will be pleased if we can be one of your preferred vendors; so, send us your contact details and we will proceed. We will be awaiting you!