Many translation agencies offer translation services in a minimalistic manner. They receive the source text from the client, send it out to a freelance translator and deliver the translator’s translation to the client.
IL Consultancy follows these steps in order to achieve service excellence in the translation industry:
Step 1: Before quoting we go through the source text to see if it needs editing. If editing is required we provide our clients with well-motivated examples from the source text and quote for pre-translation editing.
Step 2: We establish whether our clients have a reliable typesetting and document design service. The client’s source text is often in PDF; some clients expect to get the translated target text back in the same PDF format. In this case we unfortunately have to inform our client that typesetting and document design services do not form part of the translation process. Fortunately we offer clients a reasonably priced typesetting and document design service – covering all your bases.
Step 3: We inform clients that translated documents should be proofread after typesetting and document design. Proofreading the typeset document is a separate process from quality checking.
Step 4: We always ask clients for what purpose they need the translation or who their target market will be. We’re not being nosy, we just want to brief our translators as accurately as possible!
Step 5: Finding out whether our clients have important deadlines to meet is key to our language services. We provide accurate timelines to help you meet important deadlines.
Step 6: Before sending out the source text and translation brief, we go through the source text and mark up any likely translation problems. Examples are ambiguities, acronyms, obscure references and specialised terminology.
Step 7: Our translations are quality checked before delivery to client. This involves comparing it to the source text to make sure that it is a complete and accurate translation of the source text. It also involves a language and grammar check.
IL Consultancyhas been running big and small translation projects for our clients successfully for over 10 years. We\’ve built up an excellent database of tried and tested freelancers over the years. This experience has enabled us to develop an outsourcing model that truly benefits our clients.