How do mature localization programs achieve high-quality translation and automated workflows at the same time?
With the rise of artificial intelligence and machine learning, the landscape of translation is rapidly evolving. Despite the advances in technology, the importance of human expertise cannot be overlooked.
Tyson Shelley, a seasoned expert in localization, emphasized several key points during our insightful discussion. Since Language Network leverages the best of both worlds to provide high-quality translations efficiently this article comes as part of our "Experts Insights" series, offers up-to-date trends and analyses on the ever-evolving translation industry,
High-quality Translation: Key steps to get there
To guarantee high-quality translation, there are several measures to be undertaken. My experience in this market has shown me that some are more efficient than others, and my goal today is to share them here.
The first step might be sourcing the most qualified translators who specialize in various subject matters and match their expertise with the content type of our clients. In Language Network, once we find these specialists, we make sure our process include:
- Third-party translation reviews
- Use of translation memory and glossaries for consistency
- Developing customized style guides
- Quality assurance checks in both source and target languages
We go the extra mile to ensure your translations meet and exceed your expectations. Here's a testimonial from one of our satisfied customers, Cascade Designs:
"Cascade Designs has consistently received high-quality and locally relevant translations for hundreds of our products from Language Network. Together, we've established an efficient process that involves third-party industry reviews to ensure accuracy and intent. Language Network truly understands our products, often catching errors we've missed. We trust their services implicitly and rely on their accurate cost and lead-time estimates. Despite numerous translation agencies contacting us over the years, Language Network has proven to be unparalleled."
Effective Content Transfer Method:
Next, it is important to define a content transfer method, or in other words, the method used to transfer content that needs to be translated or localized.
The method of transferring content may vary depending on needs and available resources, and may involve different techniques. But one thing is true: It has to be effective and must minimize the risk of errors.
So when it comes to transferring content, we adapt to our clients' needs while also suggesting more efficient methods where possible.
Consider this scenario:
A Project Manager receives a quote request to translate a website via email with attached documents such as MS Word files, HTML files, or Excel spreadsheets. If, for example, there are 300 English HTML files to be translated into five languages for an international website, the task of integrating these translated files into the website becomes a significant challenge for the client.
Translation buyers will need to upload or copy and paste the files into their CMS, format them manually, add hyperlinks, and ensure the content stays in sync with the English content. Just imagine all the updates that your English web content undergoes, now multiply that by the number of languages on your site. This manual effort can be overwhelming, as demonstrated in a real-world case that we´ll see next.
Real-life scenario: manual vs automated content transfer
A rapidly growing tech company faced challenges due to its reliance on an in-house web infrastructure and manual translation methods. The increasing demand on the web team created bottlenecks, as the existing process couldn't keep up with the required throughput.
Eventually, the company adopted new technology, making the process more manageable. However, during this transition, a significant web refresh project cost over $100,000. The final translated files were delivered, but they sat in the web team’s queue for so long that another web refresh project was needed before the last latest translations could be manually implemented.
Instead, the company could have used the $100,000 to update its web infrastructure and implement a translation management software. This software, once integrated into the web CMS, would have eliminated bottlenecks and created a seamless process for translating content.
To avoid these challenges, some questions could have been asked to the client to implement the best method:
- What Content Management System do you use for your website?
- What steps will be required once you receive the translated content from us before you can go live?
- Are you aware that integration options for transferring content between systems could increase efficiencies and free up your team’s bandwidth?
- Other frequently asked questions in the language industry
Our goal in Language Network is always to help our clients leverage best-fit methodologies for carrying out localization so that their business can operate as smoothly as possible. Want to know more? Check out how our localization processes works!
Clarifying common questions: The Language Network Method
One common question that often comes up is whether “Translation Management System” is synonymous with “Machine Translation”, like Google Translate. We believe in clarifying that translation method and content transfer method are two separate entities. Our primary and initial focus in these discussions is on making the transfer of content as smooth and easy as possible.
While we focus on making content transfer smooth and easy, we also provide consultation on the type of translation output needed. For most of our customers, we provide high-quality, human translation and human-reviewed translation where machine translation would not suffice.
Even though AI has its advantages in streamlining content management, it's not a substitute for human translators in all cases. The role of AI in the translation industry is a much larger topic than covered in this post, so stay tuned for more!
At Language Network, our strength lies in our pool of linguistic talent and our partnerships with translation technology providers. We aim to tailor solutions to best suit your needs. You can rest assured that our team will bring the best possible translators to the table and will simplify the content transfer process with technology solutions. Find out more and check all our solutions here!
___________________________________________________________
