5 Tips for First Time Translation Service Buyers

1. - Your Translation Partner 5 Tips for First Time Translation Service Buyers Business@ulatus.com

2. Reality Check! • Language Translation goes beyond converting words from one language to another • Before making a purchase decision you must chalk out answers for the following parameters: • Purpose of the document to be translated (Publication/ Technical/ Manual/ Marketing Material/ Website) • Accuracy Expectations (Standard/ Mediocre/ Superior) • Delivery Time (Standard/ Fast/ Urgent) • Formatting Expectations (Standard/ Special) • Answers to the above parameters sets up a basic expectation of the service you need

3. Tip # 1: Machine Translation – Best Fit or Misfit? • The first question that comes with Machine Translation is “Good enough for what?” • Machine Translation can be good for you if your agenda is Real-time Communication where understandability is the only motive • It can serve as a cost effective tool if you need some data like emails to be translated • Machine Translations are advisable when the purpose of the document is not publication or something that bears social/legal liability • Machine Translation can also work well when used with post-editing support by a human Proofreader • Machine Translations are an unreliable source for professional, Marketing and academic content as the output is often garbled • Machine Translations are not advisable when the content bears the organization’s/ individual’s reputation at stake

4. Tip # 2 Monitor Usage of Colloquial Expressions & Governing Norms • Identify and maintain the style of your document from source language to target language • It is important that your translator understands the differences in vocabulary and the fitment of words as formal or colloquial terms • Puns and Metaphors should be handled with sensitivity and delivered faithful to the original script • Machine Translation fails this test over professional human translators in most instances • Expert Translators are those who are native and understand the governing laws of the target language • The Chinese Advertising Law has banned usage of words like “The Best”, “Highest Degree” etc through advertising campaigns • Such nuances have to be kept in mind by translators to avoid legal implications across target languages

5. Tip # 3 Carefully Choosing Your Language Service Provider • Quality Translations can be best sought with Professional Translation companies • Translation Companies like Ulatus employ highly experienced professional translators with the subject matter expertise and linguistic qualifications • Translation Companies make sure to have a robust Quality Management System where your translation is validated through proofreaders and editors • Always ask for trial translation before making a purchase decision for high volume translations • Many websites display Samples of Translated documents clearly explaining the kind of enhancements that are made at each level of translation (Translation, Proofreading, Native Check, Editing)

6. Tip # 4 Be Informed of Word Count Increase & Reduction • Word count increase and reduction happens in most cases but it is important to monitor the intensity of it • Languages like Japanese& Chinese use characters as opposed to words in English • It is normal for a script in English translated to Japanese to be considerably shorter given the character : word ratio • Portuguese as a language may tend to report a higher word count after translation from English • A Translation Buyer is advised to work on space management in case of websites and brochures once the translation is done • It is important to understand how a translator charges you for word count • Most Professional companies charge you on source word/ character as its known in the beginning, whereas target count is unknown.

7. Tip # 5 Know how the quotation is arrived at- Safest Parameters • Find out if the translation company is charging you per source unit or per target unit • Its best to know the final quote before you place the order • Charging per source unit is an industry wide best practice.- We recommend fee @per source unit • Few companies charge on per target unit which is unknown at the time of placing the order • Fee according to per target unit can drastically increase or decrease disturbing your translation budget • Some companies charge per page instead of per unit text.- We recommend per unit text • Customer stands to lose if he/she is charged per page for pages with less text content

8. - Your Translation Partner Thank- You www.ulatus.comwww.ulatus.jpwww.ulatus.tw www.ulatus.com.br Business@ulatus.com