What precautions should you take when hiring a translation firm for translating content or documents from English into a foreign language? Well, the risks involved in the process depend on your familiarity with the foreign language.
If you know how to read and write Chinese, then you probably can translate the content on your own. Or, you can hire just anybody because you can always crosscheck and verify the translated text on your own. However, things can get complicated when you want English to Chinese translation done and are completely unfamiliar with Chinese.
You won’t have the option of reviewing the work and assessing the quality of Chinese translation on your own. You can rely on a third party but that is only when to increase the cost without providing any guaranteed results. In a situation where you cannot independently verify the quality of work done, the smartest choice would be to compare options and identify a professional service provider offering quality services.
A professional translation firm will be committed to providing quality service irrespective of whether you know the foreign language or not. As an entrepreneur, the quality of service you offer does not depend on the level of supervision by your client, right? A professional will do a good job under all conditions and circumstances. Comparing options and identifying such a translation service provider is the smartest option.
Further, you can safeguard your position, especially in commercial transactions, by clearly indicating that you are blindly relying on the translation service provider. Clearly stating that you don’t know any Chinese and that you are not in a position to verify the translated content will be a great legal safeguard. It will place additional responsibility on the service provider to do a good job. Convey this in writing and make sure you have a written confirmation from the service provider.
Finally, make smart use of customer reviews normally available on websites of different translation service providers. Go through multiple reviews and try to identify sites that have genuine reviews from real customers. Also, focus on the experience of the service provider and the number of years over which it has been providing services to domestic and international clients.
A firm that does a shoddy job of translating content from English to Chinese is unlikely to survive for long. A company has lasted years and has a portfolio of numerous big and small clients may be a safer option as compared to a new entrant this field. Not knowing Chinese need not be a very big problem when hiring a translation firm. A common-sense approach combined with clear communication should be enough to safeguard your position.
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