Today, people lack persistence and motivation. They often give up too easily. So how do we learn to persevere? How do we find persistence and harness its power? How do we find the motivation to stay the course against all odds? Do you know what motivates you?

Persistence is the ability to hold on, hanging on when you just don’t think you have the strength for one moment longer. Distract yourself from giving up and quitting. Have a clear understanding of your goals, your dreams and have confidence in your abilities.

One of my mentors had once commented, “There are no problems, just challenges”.

So I say to you, challenge yourself. And grow as a person and as a true professional.

A true humbling experience in sales is working in retail. It is a long tedious process and the end results are not necessarily rewarding. You work late, you work weekends, and you stack and stack shelves. But it does have its merits; you meet a broad spectrum of clients. They challenge you mentally, grill you and make you think outside the box. You cannot earn this sitting in a cubicle.

This is where I had to reach down deep inside and find the self-discipline and courage needed to solve a problem.

This is exactly what we do here at Trusted Translations, Inc. We keep digging till we find the perfect solution for our clients.

The ability to solve problems is what separates us from our competitors. We perceive the problem as a challenge and focus on solutions.

That is what persistence is – sticking it out – not giving up – trying consistently, till we get it right.

Keep trying just ONE MORE TIME!!!

First of all, it is very important to stay in regular contact with you clients through e-mails, telephone, Messenger or even Skype. The more contact you actually have, the more you will learn about their needs. A good way of planning out the times you contact your clients is marking them down in a calendar or memos. Once you have a well thought out system by knowing when you should be contacting your clients, it is only a matter of following up on your game plan and being consistent about it. You will see that over the long-term it will pay off and will improve the relationship with your client.

In order to forecast your client´s translation needs as accurate as possible, go check your CRM (customer relationship management) System, which is a Sales Software Program which includes all of these features such as: sales-force automation, marketing campaigns, customer support, collaboration, Mobile CRM, Social CRM and reporting. All you need to do is go into the client´s Sales performance of the past year, to see if there is any sort of Sales pattern. Once you know the History of your client´s Sales numbers, you will be able to make the appropriate Sales decisions.

Another tool is to use and e-mail Campaign offering a certain discount or send a monthly Newsletter with updates and interesting information of your Services. You may send this to your most loyal and recurrent clients or also to your long lost clients, who haven´t bought from you in a long time. Results range from 1 – 5% of your clients responding to the e-mail Campaign and this is also good additional tool to find out about your client´s translation needs.

One of the most common expressions, at least where I come from in The United States, is that “Ignorance is Bliss”.

As I sometimes do agree this way of thinking may be beneficial when attempting to find my “spiritual center” in my personal life, I absolutely do NOT agree this particular mindset belongs in a professional work atmosphere especially from a sales perspective.

Below are 3 different classes of feedback for when a sales representative or account manager may come across the opportunity to receive and benefit from both positive and negative feedback from clientele.

1. Initial Feedback - During the first interaction, whether it is via email, fax, phone or in person, the client will start providing feedback both directly and indirectly. It is extremely important that you, working as the service provider, take notice of this initial information as it will set the standard for the rest of the business relationship. Examples of this type of feedback include identifying project driver, preferred correspondence channels, working time zones, overall business attitude and more.
2. Ongoing Feedback – As you establish a continuous network, the relationship with your client base will evolve and go through its ups-and-downs. Do not be afraid as this process, particularly in the sales world, is in fact normal. The sooner you accept this theory and constructive criticism as it comes, you then need adjust accordingly which will in turn increase the quality of life for all parties involved.
3. Post Delivery Feedback – In my opinion, all categories of evaluation are to be taken seriously and acted upon in some way. If you are lucky enough to pass through the entire sales process and receive a response after the first delivery then you are lucky my friend because you now have the chance to sell again and again and again.

What our Production and Sales staff bring to our customers is broad knowledge, which covers the spectrum from sales to production and everything in between. We complement each other with our knowledge, and while my knowledge of sales may encourage customer loyalty, the production staff‘s in-depth analysis and experience help our clients in creating an atmosphere which makes it easy to do business with us. Focusing on making it easy to do business with you will pave the road to customer loyalty for years to come.

STEP ONE – Good Impressions
A good first impression or experience is very important, whether it’s a phone call or a visit to your showroom. First impressions are the most important element in bringing a customer back.

STEP TWO – Customer Needs
The type of service you supply will be a big factor. I’m sure we all say that service is a key to our success, but your idea of good service may be quite different from what your customers expect. Be sure to do exactly what you say. If you promise a delivery in five days, then make sure the work is done in five days. Do not assume our delivery time will coincide with our customers’ needs. Communication is the key to good service. When customers’ needs are met, they become loyal because they know they can depend on you.

STEP THREE – Quality Counts
The quality of your work brings customers back. Keep a close eye on the quality of work produced. Ask a lot of questions, get detailed information- this ensures the customer’s confidence in knowing what it is he is going to get. Customers do not like surprises. A little preparation on the front-end will avoid mistakes on the final-end. Customers will appreciate your diligence in producing their projects correctly. This builds loyalty.

STEP FOUR – Pricing
Be as competitive as you can be, but charge accordingly for the work you do. Communicate well on the pricing policies. Customers like to know what they are paying for. Herein lies the opportunity to turn an average document translation project into a fantastic marketing print ready brochure.

STEP FIVE – Educate your clients
Be complete when selling your services. Make sure your customers have all the information they need in order to make smart decisions for themselves or their company. No one likes to give customers “too many choices,” but be sure they are aware of what is available. Be sure to give customers some options to choose from. Don’t shove discounts down their throat.

You would be surprised how much customers would pay for a nice finished product if they knew you could get it for them.

To be continued…

A sales representative’s ability to correctly interpret the needs of both prospective and recurrent clients is extremely crucial in the sales process today.

Here are four helpful tips about how to exceed client expectations through better communication, and instantly increase sales revenue.

1. ANTICIPATE – Remember to take advantage of your past experiences to be fully prepared when talking to your client. This does mean neither cutting them off in the middle of a sentence nor pushing them toward an empty sell. A good example would be, you acting as the sales representative, knowing when to simply calm the client’s nerves when there is no rush or apply a sense of urgency when time is of the essence.
2. LISTEN – Pay very close attention to not only what your client is saying, but also the tone and speed of their voice. This will help you quickly classify their mood and will enable you to easily distinguish the project driver (Time, Price or Quality) in order to help gain confidence and increase your chances of closing the sale.
3. EDUCATE – You know more about the ins-and-outs of the specific products and services your company offers than does your customer. This is why they are reaching out to you to fulfill their needs. Coach the customer about your industry and instruct them about all possible options available to match their request.
4. FOLLOW UP – Take into consideration that your clients do have a life outside of your business relationship. Instead of waiting for them to contact you, it is extremely important to reach out actively to them in order to maintain contact and remind them of current / future project status, pending deliveries, quotes awaiting approval or even your work availability.

Once all the necessary information has been gathered from your prospect / client, a detailed and exact quote is put together fulfilling all of the requested needs. It is important to make sure the prospect / client has received the quote once sent, so a follow-up call either on the same day or on the following day is essential. That Follow-Up Call or E-mail can make the difference on whether the sale will close or not. This is where the Account Manager needs to make sure the quote is satisfactory to the prospect / client based upon the above-mentioned drivers. In addition, the AM needs to find out if the prospect / client has a set budget for this translation project and if he is also receiving quotes from other translation agencies. This is a crucial point in the Sales process, as the Account Manager will be able to react and adjust the quote if possible. Sometimes a Sample Translation can make all the difference, and the Account Manager can rely on the Company´s qualified resources. Often, Quality is the main driver, and the best way to demonstrate Quality is by providing a Sample Translation of around 200 – 300 words.

All of these above mentioned ways to close a Sale are part of the Customer Service an Account Manager should provide in order to be successful. Good luck in Selling.

The original Mayan Language was spoken over 5,000 years ago by tribal members in the Cuchumatanes highlands of central Guatemala. They used hieroglyphics for writing their language, there was no difference in genders (such as him or her), and verbs were used completely different as we know in modern language.

Today there are 29 dialects of Mayan. They obviously have an alphabet now and the language is a little bit more sophisticated, but with that said there are still only around 5 million people in the world who actively speak a form of Mayan, and most of these people live in small isolated tribes throughout Central America and Mexico. From these facts, it does not take a rocket scientist to figure out that having Mayan translated into English can be a fairly difficult task.

If you ever run into a translation project that requires Mayan, I would like to offer some quick pointers. First, find out if it is Ancient Mayan or Modern Mayan. If it is Ancient Mayan, you are pretty much out of luck, and should probably take your text to the Smithsonian, because it might be worth some money! If it is Modern Mayan, you will need to know which dialect, and from which country is its origin. Even after you know all the associated aspects of the project, I highly suggest you give yourself plenty of time to find a reliable translator. A rush Mayan project is practically impossible.

I love studying languages and working on this project has opened my eyes to one of the most fascinating languages in the world. I would love to go deeper into the history of this language, but I will leave that up to you, the reader!

The notion that good sales people must provide great customer service has only been solidified by the current state of the economy. Overall, whether they are purchasing translation services or advertising space, people expect a lot out of the products and services they buy. Both businesses and consumers have a new perspective on the value of a dollar and are more discerning with how they spend their money. What does this mean? This means that sales reps must offer solutions to problems instead of superlative spiels on their products. If you are a people-person, a persistent problem-solver and you have a positive attitude, then you will succeed in the sales and service industry.

Now, all of the above can only be possible if I have the right tools in my shed to deliver the products and services we offer.

I do not consider a fancy office with a view, a swiveling ergonomic leather chair, and a fancy computer with a flat screen or a blue tooth equipped phone system as tools. I consider tools to be the project managers that work with me day in and out. They work with me hand in hand on the most complex and challenging translation projects on a daily basis.

Why do I consider them so special? The answer is straightforward; they make me look good in front of my clients. They market me through their excellent service and attention to details, through the products we create and deliver. Project management is an art that not everyone can master.

Project managers work on multiple projects simultaneously. They juggle translators, editors, proofreaders, DTP, content management, IT, single-handedly. From the moment I send out a quote request to the final scheduled delivery, I get their undivided attention and immaculate service. And this is the case on all projects. They see the things I don’t see, through their wide-ranging experience and their in-depth knowledge.

This job does not only require intelligence, skills, perseverance, prudence, attention to details but also the attitude and the propensity to succeed. This job is not for the faint-hearted to say the least. It is extremely challenging and exhilarating at the same time. Trusted Translations, Inc. hires, trains and empowers the best project managers that I have worked with. Their immaculate and superior quality of work has made us one of the leading translation service providers in the industry.

My success with Trusted Translations, Inc. can only be attributed to the hard working project managers that support me on a daily basis.

Therefore, once the Account Manager receives the complaint from the client it is important to show empathy and also show the client that he or she is very important. Once the problems have been received, the analysis begins. It is very common for a client to make the remark: “this translation is a disaster”, or “we think this translation is too literal, hence this is a machine translation”. It is very crucial for the Account Manager to ask the client to mark the so-called mistakes within the document and to send the document back. Once the document is received, it is forwarded to the Project Manager, who then forwards the issues to the translator, editor or proofreader, depending on what the issues are. It is very important to take immediate actions, as the client often has tight deadlines to present these translated documents and this is also a very important part of Customer Service – fix problems; solve issues.

Once the issues are explained to the Project Manager, the Account Manager has to open a case in his/her CRM system. The case has several sections in which each department has to give their feedback of what had been done; Sales Input, Production Input, DTP Input, Production Resolution, Sales Resolution, Customer Case Resolution and Internal Case Resolution.

Sales Input: This involves giving the full information regarding the type of client – first-time or recurrent client, total project cost and payment terms agreed on; the driver – time, quality or cost; client´s overall cooperation; supply of source files, availability for feedback, the actual complaint from the client and what the expected or even requested compensation should be.

It is very important for an Account Manager to ask as many questions as needed prior to starting on a translation project, so that no “surprises” or misunderstandings occur that have the potential to lead to issues and problems.

Staying motivated at the office after an extended period of time on the job is a challenge for most people no matter what their age or profession. Often, they find themselves repeating the same monotonous tasks while spewing out duplicate emails and conversations all-day-every-day without a new challenge to stimulate their brain.

Below are 3 helpful tips on what you can do to stay self-motivated and how to feel satisfied after a long day’s work.

Stay Positive: Starting out your day and entering the office with a positive mental attitude is an essential part of achieving a successful day. This step of the self-motivation process is essential and, in my opinion, the most important. Find out what helps you stay positive and run with it. Remember, this step starts with you and you alone.

Challenge Yourself: After about 10 minutes on the clock, ask yourself “What can I do today to make my job different?” Start to challenge yourself to think of ways about how to add some variety to your daily routine and then DO IT. You can implement this step by learning something new to increase personal productivity, leave work for lunch at the park or even go to the gym at the end of the day to blow off some steam.

Motivate Others: A few years ago, one of my best friends told me that the most important ability a person could have is the ability to motivate others. After 5 years of working as a senior account manager in the translation industry, I do agree with my friend. Throughout my experience, I have found that staying positive and challenging myself does not only motivate me, but also motivates others around me.

Begin to improve your life today and implement all three of my tips to your schedule as soon as possible.

You will not regret it!

Machine Translation (MT, hereinafter) has been an increasing computer technology interest and, from BabelFish to Intertran and from FreeTranslation to Bing Translator, it actually got better and better every year.

The best MT service available out there nowadays is –most likely- Google Translate. Why? Probably due to many reasons, but the most important one for the point I’m about to make is that, unlike the other previous MT services, the Google Translate does not match the source term with a corresponding one in the target language; instead, it just matches similar source sentences to similar target sentences online. That is to say, it is actually based on the genius principle that someone, somewhere, already said it before you. So the GT just goes to the most gigantic – potentially infinite, library out there, the Internet, and uses it as a database to look up the sentences it’s trying not to decipher, like the old MT engines, but to simply find and match. Pretty cool secondary use of the world’s most famous search engine, huh?

But of course it’s not all a bed of roses. Especially for human translators, who seem to be really worried about losing their jobs in a non remote future, over the goddamn machines. Because that’s exactly what many clients think, that soon they won’t need human translations, as they already have the Google Translate, and other MT tools alike.

Now this goes out to both clients and translators: take a deep breath y’all, people, and hold your horses! If that does happen someday, that day must be far and uncertain. The simple reason why no one should worry about –or celebrate- the end of human translations is at sight: Machine Translation tools such as GT do not offer translations a quarter as good as human ones, because they do not translate contexts. They do not know, nor understand, historical, social, emotional or logical contexts. So stop demonizing them, and start enjoying them, not to perfectly translate texts of languages you know or you can hire professionals for, but to get just an idea about something written in Basque, like a song you’re just curious about for yourself, let’s say. But don’t forget: to translate something a contract or a literary book from Basque to German… please hire a human translator. You’ll definitely need one.

Most perspective clients do not realize that Chinese has many different dialects as well, the two main ones being Simplified or Traditional. When I ask a client which dialect of Chinese they would like, my responses are usually: “You mean there is more than one?”, “What is the difference”, or “I will have to make some phone calls to find out”.

Just so you can have a better understanding of the two dialects, it will be my pleasure to briefly explain the differences.

Traditional Chinese is exactly that, Traditional. It is the older style of Chinese characters that was the only form of Chinese until the year 1946 when Simplified was introduced. Traditional Chinese is spoken in Taiwan, Honk Kong, Macau, and with most oversees Chinese communities (i.e. USA, Australia, and Canada).

Simplified Chinese was introduced in mainland China in the early 1950’s to increase literacy amongst the common people. Simplified Chinese uses fewer strokes and more “simplified” characters. It has been described as a much easier form of Chinese with many saying “you do not have to be an artist to write it”. Simplified Chinese is currently officially spoken in only mainland China, but its popularity is quickly spreading (especially in international communities) as many people find it much easier than Traditional.

In closing, the next time you have a project that you need translated into Chinese; you should do a little research. Ask who will be reading these documents or where are they located. Not only will you get the answer to your question, you will also further educate yourself on one of the world’s most fascinating written languages.

Mental imagery is referred to as “visualizing,” “seeing in the mind’s eye,” “hearing in the head,” “imagining the feel of,” etc.).

It resembles perceptual experience, but occurs in the absence of the appropriate external stimuli.

Now, I don’t want to sound like a cocky car salesman. But there will be times when the email or the phone is the only mode of communicating your product, services, skills, etc.

We, in the translation industry, are not selling tangible products, which you can see, feel, touch, give value to. We are selling services, services that are offered by our team of translators, editors, proofreaders and hard working project managers.

The cost of buying our services starts at the onset of the client’s phone call. No matter if it’s a small 1 page project or a 300 page manual. How you present yourself and your organization is what decides whether you will acquire this project or not.

It is not an easy task to show the client what we do; we do not offer virtual tours to our office, our manufacturing centers or our production line. We explain the process in the best possible way that we can, over the phone, through emails, conference calls, webinars, seminars, etc.

We live in a virtual world today and even though the old school mentality of meet and greet is still credible, we have to do the best we can based on what we have.

By mental imagery, what I mean is to show the client how their project flows through our various departments, how each step is carefully gauged and analyzed. How the account managers and the project managers go back and forth with our various departments to furnish the best possible product that we can.

Not only do we show how the project flows, but also the bottle necks that sometimes are difficult to avoid.

A mental imagery is created when we make our clients SEE through our eyes as to how simple text can be turned into a powerful marketing piece, an instruction manual, forms, brochures, etc.

At Trusted Translations, we take pride in our work and treat document translation as an art. An art that we want our clients to see, appreciate and recommend.

You might be thinking why I am telling you this story, but translating texts into other languages is not that easy, and there are certainly no machines that can do that for you, as explained above. Here are the different translation techniques used by professional translators and the Translation Industry:

Borrowing: This is when words are taken from one language and used in another without translation. A good example would be the word “trottoir” from French (used in German) or “Frankfurter” from German (used in English).

Calque: This is when a phrase is borrowed from another language and literally translated word-for-word.

Literal Translation: This is a word-for-word translation, however this works only in some languages and in other languages it doesn´t work.

Transposition: This is when parts of speech change their sequence when translated.

Modulation: This is when a phrase is used that is different in the source and target text, but represents the same idea. 

Equivalence: This is when the text has to be expressed in a completely different way, meaning it is the exact opposite of literal translation. This takes place with slogans or advertising material.

Adaptation: This is when a definition in the source text does not exist in the target language, due to cultural differences.

Compensation: This is when something cannot be translated, and therefore the meaning that is lost,  is then expressed somewhere else in the target or translated text. A good example would be “tu” and “vous” in French, but in English there is only “you”.

It is very important to remember that translation does not only involve the translation of one word to another, or two languages, but that it also involves 2 cultures and very often certain adaptations need to take place in order for the translation to make sense.

-          What do you mean, “what kind of English”?!

-          Is there actually a Swiss French?!

-          What exactly are you trying to say by “what Spanish variety”?!

History is full of examples of Empires and their colonies. One of the very results of that historical trajectory that we nowadays cope with are, in fact, dialects, as they are usually called. These are geographical varieties, which depend on the region of the world where they are spoken. In this sense, American English differs from British English, Canadian French from Belgian French, Peruvian Spanish from Mexican Spanish, mainly in terms of the place where each is spoken.

Nevertheless, there are social, diachronic or situational varieties as well: the same exact language in the same exact place can be used differently, depending on the education level of the interlocutors, the year or generation, or the person someone addresses to. You don’t usually use the same exact Argentine Spanish when you talk to a friend and when you discuss with a teacher. American slang in 1962, for instance, was not the same as in 2012. It was still “a gas” though…

Dialects are varieties of the same (original) language that has dynamically evolved, both in its place of origin and in the “new” one. And as a translator or translation sales account manager, it is crucial to be aware of their existence in order to be able to meet the client’s needs, not only in terms of quality, but also relevance and accuracy in the target dialect.

Today a new client asked me a question that actually wasn’t THAT out there. She said, “I sometimes hear how something in English – a particular sentence or phrase – doesn’t translate the same way in another language. Do your translators take that into consideration when translating and accommodate that by using a correct phrase in that language, or are they strictly translating verbatim?” Why don’t I think that this is a silly question? Well, because I’m sure that there are translation companies that do offer that. Luckily, I was able to assure her that we use the 3-Step Process. We Translate, Edit and Proof every document with 3 different translators to make sure everything that goes through us is done perfectly. So, what are the basic things a client needs to provide us so we can send you a quote right away? Send us the document, let us know what your target language is and do not forget to tell us if you have time constraints. Keep the silly questions coming though…They put a smile on my face !

What do they like about these noisy, oily, ugly creatures, you may ask? Well, it’s their ability in working together as a team. Ducks are known to work together and accomplish the impossible and unimaginable. Ducks cover hundred and thousands of miles, distances almost no other animal or bird can travel, and it’s all possible because they work as a team. As you may know, ducks fly together in formation. As each duck flaps its wings, it creates uplift for the bird following and that is perpetuated throughout their V formation. Each duck takes its turn leading the flock in flight. When the lead duck gets tired, it fades from the front and is enveloped back into the fold of the flock and naturally another bird takes the lead. By working together, the whole flock adds approximately 70% more flying range than if each bird flew alone.

Like ducks, people naturally gravitate toward organizations that will shelter and protect them and make their life easier than if they were left to fend for themselves.  I believe that people want to belong; they want to be a part of a team. A team that gives them a sense of a transcendent purpose, where they can be a part of something bigger than themselves.

I also find that most people perform to their greater potential when on a team than when on their own. They rise to meet the expectations of the team; if left alone to their own motivations, they wouldn’t push themselves nearly as hard.  I find that lots of people do more for the recognition of others than for their own satisfaction. Thus, team environments are a powerful force for drawing out the best within our individual potentials for achievement.

At Spanish Translation US, our team works together for our customers’ full satisfaction. The Account Manager analyzes and interprets the needs of the client. Then he passes this information on to the Project Manager who carefully fills the rest of the team in, including freelancers and in-house QA resources, with this same information. Our business model is based on Account Manager focusing on the customer service and a Project Manager concentrated in the operational aspects of the service.

I was actually happy to stumble across this information. It makes me proud to come from a Country that has no official language. After all, The United States is a nation founded by immigrants of foreign lands. I think it is great that we accept everyone’s language as “our own”.

Although English is the most common spoken language in The U.S. (with over 86% of the population being native speakers), you will be surprised to hear how many other languages are spoken across the “Red, White, and Blue”. Spanish is the second most common spoken language in the States, with over 12% of the population being fluent. 12% might not sound like a lot, but The United States actually has the 5th highest level of Spanish Speakers in the World, beating out many Countries who use Spanish as their mother tongue.

There are over 1 million people who speak Vietnamese and Tagalog in The United States. Millions of Japanese, Chinese, German, Russian, Italian, Polish, and Greek speakers. And let’s not forget the thousands of people who still speak Native American tribal languages or use sign language to communicate.

Being an Account Manager at a World Wide Translations Company, I realize the importance of different languages. With so many languages spoken, not only in The United States but in the World, the need for translations is constantly growing. Translations open the gap between all language barriers and takes communicating or expanding your business to a whole other level.

1)    Analyze the biggest Accounts – In our industry, the total number of projects and the total amount of revenue should be detected for each business year (2011 in this case) and these numbers should be analyzed. Account Managers can adjust their offered per Word Rates according to the total Revenue, to see if the client will purchase more projects in 2012. Additional language pairs can be offered to clients in order to have higher potential of closing translation projects. TMs  (Translation Memories)  can be offered to give the client a monetary benefit, as this will over the long run reduce the translation cost for the client.

2)    E-mail Campaigns – Sending e-mail campaigns by e-mail and offering 10% discounts helps generate more sales and might even persuade long-lost clients to come back and take the offer to his/her advantage. This incorporates an added value to your client and can increase trust and confidence levels.

3)    Increase Database of translators/editors that have TRADOS as this will enable you  to offer Repetitions, Fuzzy Matches, 100% Matches etc. and will make you more competitive on the market. This can be a huge benefit for your client.

4)    Sales Incentives should be established for all Account Managers, as this will keep them motivated and can result in higher Sales.

5)    Performance feedback – twice a year, the Sales Mgr. should sit down with the AM to give feedback over the AM´s performance. This will enable the AM to improve on bad habits and can result in generating higher Sales if these bad habits will be stopped.

6)    Every Quarter, the per word rates of all language pairs need to be compared to various markets, to see if if the company is still competitive. This can result in higher sales if appropriate actions are taken.

7)  Adwords and SEO: whenever the Revenue forecast shows that a “slow” month is coming, additional investment into Adwords and SEO should be invested, in order to overbridge the “low” time period. This means the company can proactively act to overcome slow sales and not react to slow sales.

I hope I was able to give you a few ideas of how higher Sales can be generated, as these points helped our Company a lot to generate more Sales.  Do not forget that all of this goes along with being focused and following your goals.

Welcome to the year 2012 and guess what, time is still of the essence. Because there is a lot of talk around the world regarding this year being our last year on Earth as we know it, I have the growing sense that more people are in even more of a hurry to get things done than never before.

And I mean NOW.

Below are the 3 principal drivers to continually take into account preceding this year’s translation projects.

TIME – As I had mentioned in my previous blog post Gambling Quality http://spanish-translation-blog.spanishtranslation.us/gambling-quality-2011-07-19.html, quick turnaround times often means timesaving methods are being carried out during the work flow to meet client deadlines. When there is not sufficient time to administer a correct translation or Desktop Publishing quality assessment (DTP QA), there is a danger of mistranslation and loss of future business. This occurs mainly when translated files are to be printed or financial amounts within contracts are incorrect.

QUALITY – Like I had written in October 2011 http://spanish-translation-blog.spanishtranslation.us/top-4-tips-for-rush-translations-2011-10-19.html, starting a project without arranging in advance the guidelines is not recommended particularly when you are working under a tight deadline. The most important factors to firmly establish are the target market, dialect, tone, register and measurement conversion/localization.  Remember, if you do not follow this crucial step, you will not have the time to alter the translation after the final delivery is completed.

PRICE – Do not forget the common expression of “You get what you pay for”. This idea can be applied in the translation industry as well. Be aware of companies which may offer under market value price quotes and unrealistic turnaround times because these companies are most likely processing your translations using “under value techniques”.

Whether or not you believe the hype about our planet suddenly lighting up like a match stick or Big Foot to finally appear to eat our beautiful home like a delicious wild Malus sieversii apple, you should still stop and take a deep breath before you start your important ventures in 2012.