How to choose a translator who is right for you

Translation is a specialized field and professionals in the field consistently work with great care and concentration. To choose the translation business that will best respond to your needs, it is important that you know yourself well and familiarize yourself with the qualities of a good translator.

Establishing your goals

It is important to determine not only what you need to have translated exactly, for what purpose and target audience, but also the frequency of the requests, the volume of content and the deadlines involved. All these factors should guide your search for a translator with the resources needed to help you reach your goals with content that effectively reflects your brand.

Knowing your budget

The budget set aside for translation can impact your choice, but it should not prevent you from evaluating all your options. The initial urge to settle for the least expensive translator, because of a lack of resources, is not necessarily a winning solution when we consider that a professional translation company has more resources and can save you time and money.

Considering the type of relationship you want

You (or a member of your team) will probably have to interact with the translator more than once during the translation process. Reflect on your expectations and the degree of involvement you wish to have in the project. You will favour someone who is worthy of your trust and open to understanding how you work because a good translator has the ability to adapt.

Sharing values

To develop a lasting relationship based on trust, choose an attentive translator who wants to provide you with the best product, who is sensitive to your needs, and who takes your success to heart. Guided by these concerns, this person will apply your values to provide you with a quality translation for a fair price.

The qualities of a good translator

With all this in mind, you can set off in search of a professional translator, looking for the qualities that such a person must have. The ideal candidate masters languages, writing, and the art of communication, is flexible and adapts their work to each request, even when changes must be made quickly to meet tight deadlines. Good translators work efficiently and meticulously, drawing from their extensive cultural experience, their love of research, and their outstanding linguistic skills. Their modesty pushes them to validate their choice of words and terms and they are open to and welcome your questions and comments. Good translators are reliable and submit their translations on the agreed-upon date, confident that they have communicated your message as though it had been originally written in this second language.

Finding the right match… and benefiting

Once you have found that one-in-a-million translator, you will benefit from working with the same translator for all of your projects. This person will have a clear understanding of your philosophy and strategy, know your audience, address them in an effective manner, and produce content that is consistent in style, tone, and vocabulary, and that meets your needs and expectations.

Choosing a quality translator will help you save both time and money. The team at Stevenson has all the assets to optimize their work and their production capacity. The group is composed of translators whose first language is either French or English, and who strive to provide impeccable multilingual services. Our professional translators are experienced and seek out quality, not only in their work, but in their customer service as well.