Whenever you send a file to us for translation, do you ever wonder how we decide to go about fulfilling your request? There are many factors at play, but we always look at the three main considerations customers prioritise when choosing their language service provider (LSP): Quality, cost and time. From there, we then see which of the following is best suited to your project.
We split our translation services into four different levels to better suit your businesses translation needs:
If you just need a basic understanding of the source text, then gisting is the fastest and most applicable approach to your translation. As an exact, precise translation isn’t needed, this can be run quickly through machine translation to return the user with an understanding in order to make an informed decision. Gisting could be used in the legal field (documents for eDiscovery for example), online reviews, emails or internal communications.
A literal translation is exactly that: a word for word representation of the text in another language. It provides you with an accurate representation of the source text, however the tone and style of the text aren’t factored in so literal translation probably shouldn’t be used if the end result is to be used in customer facing or public materials. This level is best used for subjects such as FAQs, internal documents or low risk technical content.
With localised content, the end translation will appear as though it was created specifically for your target country or market. The quality of localised translations is high and will be adapted to appeal to the emotive side of your readers. This level of output will always be suitable for professional use. This can be applicable for a wide range of source texts and industries where detail and accuracy are of the highest importance, such as software, legal,financial, manufacturing and medical. Do try to allow a bit of extra time to ensure careful adaptation and proofreading can be done to guarantee the highest quality of translation.
The most bespoke option available, a creative translation is best suited for marketing material where the key messages need to be translated with the same exact style and intent giving the same impact as the source text, such as press releases, SEO, slogans or blogs. The speed of this service will always be slower than the others; however this reflects the level of detail and thought involved to adapt the messages exactly how they should be in the target locale.
