Testing Translation Services the Right Way

More companies are using translation tests as part of their procurement cycle. Testing translation can be beneficial, but it is essential that you understand “what” you are trying to gain from the test. For a test to be successful, you must match your test translation requirements to the most appropriate vendor strategy for your organization. The table shows the four basic types of vendors; individual translators, SLVs, MLVs and organizations capable of complete localization outsourcing. When creating a “test” the most important thing is to understand and agree what you are actually going to test.

A strategy based on individual translators and Single Language Vendors (SLVs) are most appropriate for organizations with minimal translation needs, limited language requirements or who have the wherewithal to create a large global localization vendor management group – essentially an internal MLV. Testing individual translators or SLVs is really about testing how well the individual or group of individual can take words and translate them into the language concerned. A traditional translation test of a few hundred to a few thousand words is appropriate here – as long as you have someone available to check the output!

Moving up to a localization strategy based on MLVs or using a complete outsourcing provider changes the game though. The common error most organizations make when testing these vendors is assuming that the quality of translation is most important thing you can be testing. Beyond testing actual translation quality it is important to assess how well the partner can translate simultaneously to 5, 10, 25 or 50 languages, with the most attention paid to how well their processes will stand up to the rigors of your schedule. Due diligence at this level goes far beyond whether the prospective partner can find someone to translate a few hundred words!

For MLVs and localization outsourcing providers, testing is most beneficial in a “real-world” style piloting a live project with a small number o pre-qualified vendors following due diligence. This live pilot would typically come near the end of the vendor selection process, after the short-list of viable candidates – the one (ideally – although in some cases the right approach is to pilot with a small number) who look like ideal partners based on the rest of the due-diligence. A pilot should be a real-life project for both organizations and should be representative of how your organization works on a day to day basis as well as how you want to partner over the long haul. Specifically, Pilot approach must address these questions:

• Does this vendor have documented repeatable processes for delivering content in a consistent, high quality format?
• Can this vendor scale to meet the overall needs with their current processes?
• Can this vendor make “value-add” recommendations in the context of the PLP to help optimize the overall localization spend?
• If there is a technology aspect, can the vendor properly assess the best technology and implement it seamlessly into an organization?

At the end of the project, each vendor should present a retrospective review, including concerns, lessons learned and potential gains from best practices. These “post-mortem” reviews are where the key differentiators between vendors will come to the surface.  A company will have the data necessary to answer the four questions above, as well as many others allowing a controlled and educated go/no go decision to be made.

The Pilot approach is the only way to truly gauge the strength of a vendor and their ability to meet your needs.  Typically it takes longer to complete, but it allows the vendor to demonstrate more of their specific capabilities and allows both parties to determine if they are a good fit.