6 Things You Can Do to Speed Up the Translation Process
Time is money. We all know that. However we are mostly unaware of the many things we do that waste lots of our time. Regarding translations, there are some things you, as a client, can do to help us, translators, speed up the translation process.
1. HEADS-UP
Tell your translators beforehand what you will be needing from them (in a couple of days, or weeks if possible). Give them as much information as possible to help them get ready and plan how to manage your project more effectively. If you say you will send the files for translation by a given date, please make sure you do that – a team will be gathered and waiting for the documents to arrive.
2. COMMUNICATION
Be reachable. Good communication between the client and the translator goes a long way to provide a quality translation in the most efficient way.
3. QUOTES
Provide source documents for any texts quoted in the document you sent in for translation. Many times the files we translate include quotes. If there are official versions of those quotes, these should not be freely translated. If the document includes graphs or tables, it is very helpful to receive the native file. Otherwise, re-building the graphs from scratch is very time-consuming and sometimes actually impossible without the necessary data.
4. GLOSSARIES AND REFERENCE MATERIAL
If you have a glossary or list of preferred terms, or if you have related documents that the translators can use as reference material, please send them in with the main document.
5. PLANNING AND TIME OPTIMIZATION
Whenever you plan the time you will need to complete a filing, please consider the translation of the documents as a part of the entire process. Attorneys often use up most of the time allocated for a project drafting the documents they will then need translated, with only a couple of days left for translation.
6. DETAIL ORIENTATION AND PRIORITIZATION
The devil is in the details. We agree. Attention to detail is very important and cannot be overlooked because of tight deadlines. That is why it is so important to manage our time efficiently. It is also key to set priorities. Sometimes a section of a large document will be needed first, while the rest can be delivered later. Some other times a client may use an early draft of the translation, and the final, proofread version can be delivered later on.
