4 Steps To Find The Best Medical Translation Company

Medical translation is becoming much more necessary when individuals may now receive healthcare services from international hospitals. Then, it is a tough call for a professional medical translation company with advanced abilities and specific expertise, to produce incredibly accurate translation results.

In this article, GTE Localize would provide 4 crucial steps, guiding you to partner with the top medical translation agency in every localization project.

Step 1: Choose A Medical Translation Company Rather Than Freelancer

When outsourcing medical translation services, there are two options: working with a freelancer or through a medical translation company.

A freelancer is a single person providing translation services into a single language. Some customers prefer this concept since they get to pick the translator who will truly interpret their medical material. Others, on the other hand, you can choose to deal with a medical translation company that can connect them, through a single point of contact, to a sizable pool of qualified individuals who can translate into several languages.

The choice will depend on which solution best fits your project’s goals, budget, and business objectives. To comprehend the key distinctions between the two, you may take into account a few things about their advantages and disadvantages.

Freelance Medical Translator

With the correct term, you may simply discover independent medical translators on LinkedIn or Upwork. The aim is to find qualified medical translation providers that have specific skills and deep knowledge.

The pros when working with freelancers are:

• Cost-effective prices: You just pay for the jobs they finish according to the contract. Although project expenses would be significantly lowered, certain independent contractors could charge more for translation.
• Direct communication: If you need to make any changes to your translation job, you may save time by getting in touch with freelancers immediately.

However, there are some cons:

• Limited tool usage: The CAT tool is a wonderful aid in guaranteeing translation consistency, although it is not widely used. A freelancer might not be able to support all CAT tools.
• Limited capabilities: A freelance translator might only translate between a few languages. You need to hire extra freelancers if you want to localize the project for several target languages.

Medical Translation Company

Your best option for finding experienced medical translation partners is through language service providers (LSPS) or translation firms.

The two most outstanding benefits of this approach are:

• Wide range of services: Full-step translation sequences and the capacity to translate several language pairings are provided by translation agencies to a team of medical translators. Additionally, the translation company can handle several tasks while still guaranteeing that the medical translations are of the highest quality. They can localize rather than just translate, in other words.
• CAT tools utilization: CAT tools are supported by all translation companies for your projects, helping you to reduce the overall expenses and ensure translation consistency.

Meanwhile, the drawback you might have can be:

• High cost: Because translation organizations provide expert linguists and multiple types of services, working with them will cost extra.
• Indirect communication: In order to get in touch with the linguist, you must go through a PM group.

Given that both translation firms and independent translators have many benefits and drawbacks, choosing between them might be difficult. The following variables will affect your match, so be sure to thoroughly consider them before choosing.

Step 2: Research More Information

Here are three typical ways to find out more information about a potential medical translation company that you should work with.

Search Engines

Currently, there are a lot of freelancers and translation companies with accessible websites/portfolios and detailed services. Through a simple Google keyword search, you may simply identify your translation partner. You will get suggestions for the medical localizing service you need.

Association Directories

Translation directories can also list medical translators. You may find a qualified supplier for nothing by using the web directories that professional organizations for translators and interpreters make available.

Check the directories of the professional associations in the countries speaking the source and the target languages (where the language in the original document is spoken, or where the language in the translated document is spoken).

Most directories are in English, and you can often focus your search by choosing the translator’s native tongue and area of specialization.

Word-of-mouth Recommendations

Finding a reliable medical translation company might be aided by requesting recommendations from coworkers and friends.

When you need to translate your medical material into additional language pairs, if you are already working with a medical translator for a language pair, you may ask them for a recommendation. Since the translation industry is tiny and close-knit, they are likely to be familiar with a suitable candidate.

Step 3: Shortlist The Potential Agencies and Compare Them

After getting millions of results for the right medical translation company, you may also ask around in your network to identify trustworthy translation partners. The following details should be taken into consideration in order to weed out any irrelevant or inappropriate partners:

• The language pairs they provide;
• The kinds of services they provide;
• Their portfolio or CV.

The next step is communicating with your chosen translation partners right away. You may create a table comparing their skills based on the points below.

Rate

Which medical translation company provides the best price that fits your budget? Even though every business wants the lowest possible translation costs, it might not be a good idea to go with the provider that gives the cheapest rate since quality and pricing are related.

To establish a fair price, your business should ask potential partners for a quote and weigh their typical prices. Ask whether there is a discount or any other unstated fees or taxes. Get more advice from our Basic Guide For Document Translation Services Costs and Rates.

Customer Services

A successful translation project depends on the translation agency’s responsive support. As a result, you should consider their support for you. Do they provide thorough and understandable answers to your questions? Are responses sent quickly? For a more accurate assessment, keep in mind to account for time zones.

Membership

The partnerships and memberships that your medical translation company participates in are other aspects you should take into account. It demonstrates their dedication to growing their relationships and networks with partners and professional translation agencies as well as their ongoing commitment to keeping up with changes in the localization sector.

Review

The most acceptable source of information to learn more about a medical translation company and the value of its services is unquestionably customer reviews. Reading reviews from prior clients allows people to assess their experience as well as their skill. You may examine their working practices and methods with greater clarity as you have a deeper understanding of their previous projects.

Look at GTE Localize’s GoodFirms and Clutch profiles as two examples of an organization with favorable reviews.

Certification

Certification is evidence of a translator’s or a translation agency’s expertise and capacity to manage projects.

You should only hire translators who have received professional education and training in languages and translation (such as an ATA Certification or a Bachelor’s Degree in Translation).

Working with a medical translation company that is ISO-certified, which demonstrates their dedication to upholding internationally accepted standards, is strongly advised. Taking into account translation companies that adhere to ISO 9001:2015 requirements for quality management systems or ISO 17100:2015 requirements for translation services

Other Factors

Along with the main criteria mentioned above, you should consider the following factors:

• Their payment duration and the accepted currencies;
• Office addresses;
• The capacity to use CAT tools, QA tools, and other available systems;
• Their readiness to accommodate particular additional requirements from your business.

You should select no more than three translation partners for the following evaluation after taking these variables into account.

Step 4: Give The Medical Translation Company a Test

One of the most crucial steps that directly affects the quality of the translations is the procedure of evaluating potential translation partners before choosing to work with them. This phase can take up to 5 days and the test should be no longer than 300 words.

However, you should remember to sign an NDA before testing the partners because you cannot afford to have any of your company’s confidential information exposed. A reputable translation partner will typically offer to sign the NDA when you want it or will aggressively remind you to do so.

Take a look at our 7-step process to assess your translation partners.

Final Thoughts

Choose GTE Localize if you are looking for a leading medical translation company to help you with your forthcoming project. We have a large network of native speakers who can provide you with top-notch localization services at the lowest prices available. Our lifetime warranty and 99% on-time delivery can ensure a one-stop language solution for every customer.

Contact our localization specialists to get a free 300-word test or a 1:1 consultation for your medical translation services.