5 Tips for Working with an Outsourced Translation Service

By Sarah-Claire Jordan

If you’ve finally made the choice to work with an outside translation service rather than start your own in-house translation team, you have made a good choice for many reasons. Now, however, you should know that there are certain things you can do to make your outsourcing experience as productive and pleasant as possible. Most of it has to do with how you relate to and treat the translation team you have hired, and a fair amount of it is common sense, but it never hurts to hear someone give you a few tips and reminders. Here are five pieces of advice that everyone should take into account when working with an outsourced translation team:

1. Treat your outsourced translation team as an extension of your team

This may seem obvious, but treating outsourced team members with the same familiarity and respect as you would your in-house team can go a long way. You’ve already selected this particular team to work with, so they don’t have anything to prove to you anymore if you’ve done that part right. Now is the time to truly collaborate with them and give them as much of a voice in the creative process as anyone else on your team.

2. Work with a team that has at least one representative near your team

Most translation services will have a project manager or engagement manager located not too far from your office. If you keep in constant contact with this representative, it won’t feel so much like you’re working with a team that is miles and miles away. This increased sense of intimacy will help everyone feel like they know more about what is going on and make them feel better about working with that particular translation service.

3. Be as transparent as possible with your outsourced team members from the beginning

Letting your “new” team members know exactly what you expect from them and how you operate will save you a lot of hassles in the future. If you like to check in on things every day, every week, or every month, let them know that so they can be prepared and work around that. Don’t feel bad about bugging them so often if that will make you feel better. If they are a good translation service, they will understand and happily let you know how things are going whenever you ask.

4. Ask about security while choosing a translation service

This isn’t something to wait to ask about. While you are in the process of reviewing your options in terms of outsourcing your translation projects, you should include as many questions as possible regarding security and how the translation team you will be working with will keep all of your data safe. If you ask all of those questions before you’ve even officially selected them, the team will realize just how important security is for you and make sure to make it a priority.

5. Take time to get to know each member of the translation team

This doesn’t have to take a long time. All you need to do is speak with each member and get to know them a bit better. As you do this, gauge how well you think they would work with members of your own team. If you feel that any member isn’t a good fit, then you might want to consider choosing a different translation team to work with.

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Category: Foreign Language