Why use a Translation Agency for your language/localisation project?
- One point of contact
Depending on the needs of your organisation, you might require more than one service, for example, translation, voice over, and sub titling. When you work with a language services agency, you will be allocated a project manager which means you will have one point of contact for all the services you require. Without the Agency, you might be doing a lot of work liaising with different professionals based in different areas.
- Quality control
Due to the current demand and globalisation, language agencies work with both in-house and freelance linguists. Any reputable Agency will have a recruitment and screening process to ensure that any linguists or contractors they work with are able to provide high quality services which will meet their client’s needs. In most cases, linguists will be required to have relevant qualifications and experience, and also agree to abide by the Agency’s policy and procedures including maintaining confidentiality.
- Less hassle
Depending on your requirements, some projects need to be proofread, edited, and reviewed before they are finalised. Language service agencies will usually have procedures to ensure that any work that is delivered is done to the highest quality possible. If you were to work directly with linguists, you will be liaising with different professionals to get your project proofread, edited, and reviewed. Although, it may sound straight forward, the process of dealing with disagreements between linguists and reviewers is not always a simple one.
- It is cost effective
Language agencies are usually able to offer competitive rates and save you a lot of time and resources you might have to spend if you were managing the project yourself. At times, people also forget to calculate some additional costs which are covered by language agencies when considering managing projects themselves, for example, phone calls to liaise with linguists and other parties involved who might be based in a different country and additional charges for the time any linguist might spend on editing and reviewing.
- Reliability
It is not always easy to complete a language/localisation project within a specific timescale if you are starting from scratch to look for linguists and contractors. A language agency would usually ensure that they have appropriate resources to meet their client’s needs and deadline before agreeing to take on any projects.
How is working with an Agency for the linguists?
Different agencies work differently, at Modus we ensure that both our in-house and freelance linguists are looked after well. We pay our linguists competitive rates and make sure they feel comfortable with timescales we agree. Because we have the experience of working as linguists, we know how much hard work is required of them and we do our best to keep our linguists happy.