How To Reduce Delivery Time For Your Translation Projects?

Every company expects a quick delivery time for translation projects to meet the schedule for their businesses. Sometimes, the turnaround time your translators or translation agency offer doesn’t meet your expectation. The reason might be from the translators’ side as they have to handle a tight schedule. But in some cases, it can stem from your side – factors such as your content quality, language pairs, etc.

In today’s post, we will discuss 5 main factors that affect the delivery time of your translation projects and find the solution to reduce it as much as possible.

Avoid Sending Poor-written Content

Delivery time tends to be longer if the source content is of poor quality. It’s difficult to work on a file with multiple styles that overrides inconsistent writing format, or incorrect typing rules (double space, wrong coma position, etc.). It’s time-consuming to translate such a file as the linguists must edit the file to balance accuracy and consistent writing tones.

To avoid any unnecessary delays, you should manage your content beforehand, focusing on enhancing content consistency while following a standardized format.

Avoid Preparing Too Many Graphics

Dealing with graphics in documents is one of the most tricky and time-consuming parts of the translation process. Translators face two possible issues: Text in graphics and Inappropriate images.

More efforts need to be put into translating text inserted into images. The translators first write down what the text says and translate it. Then, they need to use image-editing software to index the translated words into the given images with the same font and design. The more images with the text you have, the longer the turnaround time for your translation projects is.

What’s more, sometimes, the images you choose are not considered appropriate in the target countries. That means another step is needed to adapt these graphics. The translator team will have to find suitable images that convey the same meaning before inserting the translated text into them. The whole process takes time.

The best solution to reduce turnaround time (and translation costs) is the replacement of your texted images with written words.

Skip Complex Technical Projects

Each type of content requires a different timeline depending on its complexity. Projects, especially those relating to technique are likely to have a longer delivery time since they include intricate terms and abbreviations which translators need time to research.

To reduce the time, it is highly recommended that you prepare a clear guideline with a glossary of terms you expect translators use throughout the translating process.

Request Common Language Pairs

Some language pairs are more time-consuming to translate than others due to the shortage of high-qualified translators. For example, if you want to translate a document from Albanian to Korean – a quite uncommon language pair, it will be difficult and expensive to find a suitable translator. As a result, English is usually used as an intermediate between two languages. First, the document is translated from Albanian to English, then converted from English to Korean. The process involves more steps and translators. Undoubtedly, it makes the delivery time longer than you might expect.

To guarantee the accuracy of the documents, the translation of uncommon language pairs should not be rushed. Thus, you should plan ahead and contact the translators or translation agency a few weeks before the project starts.

Use Translation Tools

The most accurate and high-quality translations are indeed made by professional human-being linguists, not automatic translations generated from machines. However, it doesn’t mean no tools or machines should be included in the translation process. Because translating a file 100% manually takes several hours or days, while mistakes like inconsistent word choices can easily be made.

To achieve cost-effective translation projects with the fastest turnaround time, the use of translation tools like CAT tools or proofreading tools comes highly recommended. The translation memory in CAT Tools stores terminologies and previous translations. Instead of translating duplicated segments, translators reuse these resources, enhancing the documents’ accuracy and consistency.

Need a Professional Translation Partner?

If you need a translation and localization service partner, look no further than GTE Localize, a GoodFirms-recommended company for best translation agencies.

Our primary goal is to assure the accuracy of all translation and localization projects and that our clients are completely satisfied with our work.  To make this goal come true, we apply a wide range of methods to guarantee our services’ quality:

• • Our linguists are native speakers with Masters or PhD degrees in their specialized fields.
  • We offer budget-effective translation services without hidden fees. Before we begin the translation process, we will thoroughly specify the prices in our quotation/contract. During the whole project, you don’t need to pay any extra fee.
  • To guarantee that you obtain the best quality translation and localization services, we actively conduct a QA round or an internal LQA round for 100% of our translation projects. We will pay for these additional steps, so you will not be charged any extra expenses.
  • We offer a lifetime warranty for every project. We correct any mistakes you find on our translation for free even after the project is completed.

Contact our localization experts for a helpful consultation and a free 300-word test!