|
English Polish Translator Guide: Managing Your English Polish Translation ProjectPlanning an English Polish translation? Whether you hire an English Polish translator or sending your document to an agency, follow these basic project management steps to maintain control of your project and prevent unpleasant surprises. At the bottom of the page, you’ll find typical English Polish translator prices and other useful information. Managing Your Polish TranslationHere is quick guide to the basic steps in managing a translation project. Step 1: Look for the right agency or freelance translator Should you hire an agency to manage your translation or look for a freelance English Polish translator? The right answer depends your budget, time constraints, and the complexity of your translation needs. An agency will normally be more expensive, but will handle more aspects of the project for you. Read a detailed comparison of different English Polish translation options. If you decide to send your English Polish translation to an agency, look for one with positive client references in your field and rigorous quality control procedures. Ask if the agency's service includes an in-depth revision of the translation by a second native translator to ensure the quality. Read more advice on choosing a translation agency. If you decide to go directly to a freelance translator, look for one who is a native speaker of the translation's target language (the final language of the translation) and who has sufficient background knowledge of the translation's subject matter. Ask for past client references. Ideally, you would also want to evaluate samples of the translator's previous translation work or even a short translation test. Read more advice on choosing a freelance English Polish translator Step 2: Collect proposals Once you've identified several suitable agencies or freelance translators, request price and timing proposals for your English Polish translation project. It is convenient to organize quote requests by e-mail. Attach a copy of the document for translation, if possible. If you do not want to send around the document, then try to provide a word count, since translation pricing is normally based on the total number of words. In your e-mail, include the following information:
Step 3: Analyze proposals When presented with a variety of price proposals, there are two common temptations. Some companies automatically choose the lowest price. Others regularly choose the second lowest price, with the idea that this will be a good compromise between economy and quality. We recommend putting a bit more thought into the process. Consider the advice on our English Polish translator selection and agency selection pages, and look hard at what you will be getting for your money in each case. Also think about what level of English Polish translation you actually need. Is it important that everything be perfect? If not, maybe you can afford to sacrifice some quality for a lower price. However, be very skeptical of a translation agency that charges below market rates. It is almost certain that this agency is skimping on quality and cutting corners -- otherwise, it would simply not be possible for them to offer the low price and still make a profit. Compare typical English Polish translator prices Find out how to save money on English Polish translation Step 4: Close the deal Once you've decided on a translation partner for your project, send a confirmation e-mail that summarizes the exact terms of the agreement. This includes the price, the timing, and any instructions for managing the translation. It is important to have all of this in writing so that no one can misunderstand. Step 5: Check in If you've hired an agency, you can normally sit back at this point and wait for the completed translation. However, if you've hired a freelance English Polish translator, it's a good idea to check in regularly during the project to make sure everything is on-track and invite questions. Checking in from time to time improves communication and gives you more insight into how your project is going. If anything is endangering the project, you are more likely to notice early signs, allowing you to take the necessary action. Step 6: Check up Ideally, important translations should be revised for accuracy and language by a second native translator. If you have hired an agency, this revision step may be included in their service. If not, or if you have hired a freelance translator, you may decide to hire a native reviser yourself. Translators generally apply lower rates for revision than translation. Per word revision rates are often a half or a third of the rates for translation; however, many translators prefer to charge for revision on an hourly basis. If you hire a translator to revise your translation, ask him or her to mark changes if the document format allows this. An excessive number of changes will let you know that something is not right: either the original translator did a bad job, or the reviser overstepped his or her role and attempted to retranslate everything. If you don't have the budget or time to hire a separate reviser, you should do a basic revision yourself. Even if you don't speak any Polish, you can compare the translation against the original to check for correct formatting and completeness. You can do an automatic spell-check. You can use a free online translator to translate the Polish version back into English in order to review what is there. This automatic translation will not be completely accurate (Important: do not use a machine translation for anything except reading/understanding!); however, it will give you an idea of whether the translator left anything out. If you notice any possible problems with the translation, do not try to fix them yourself unless you are fluent in the language. Instead, send all your questions back to the translator, who will normally be glad to correct the document for you. Step 7: Pay the translator Always pay your English Polish translator promptly. Don't forget that a freelance translator depends on client payments to pay his or her living expenses, while a translation agency needs your payment in order to pay their translators and editors. English Polish Translator Guide - More ResourcesTypical English Polish translation prices Advice on choosing a freelance English Polish translator Advice on choosing a translation agency See all topics in the English Polish Translator Guide |