Making the Most of Your Translation Investment

As the founder and CEO of Interpro and someone who spent years working inside large enterprise translation companies before launching my own, I’ve seen just about every scenario when it comes to managing localization budgets.

For over 30 years, I’ve helped organizations of every size and industry make smart, sustainable investments in translation. And if there’s one thing I’ve learned, it’s this: saving on translation isn’t about cutting corners. It’s about making the right moves early and often to maximize every dollar.

When done right, your translation strategy drives long-term revenue and communication success. It creates consistency. It scales with your business. And it sets you up for better outcomes across markets and languages.

Here are 12 practical strategies I recommend to any organization looking to make their localization budget go further without sacrificing quality. Get help implementing any of these strategies, or get tailored guidance by contacting our team here.

Strategy 1: Provide Editable Source Files

What it means: Submit source files in formats like Word, PowerPoint, Excel, or InDesign, and never just PDFs or image-based files.

Why it saves: Editable files reduce or eliminate the need for file engineering or reconstruction. That means less time and fewer billable hours spent preparing your content for translation.

Example: We’ve had several clients who send PDFs for every training document, but saved thousands by switching to editable files because it cut engineering time by more than half.

How Interpro helps: We accept all major source file types, and will advise you on the most efficient way to prepare files for translation. Our engineering team is here to help you make that shift.

Strategy 2: Finalize Content Before Translation

What it means: Don’t translate drafts. Submit only final, approved versions of your content.

Why it saves: Unless you’re specifically working in an agile workflow, mid-project edits can trigger retranslation fees, version control issues, and delays across multiple languages. 

Example: One organization revised their compliance handbook mid-project and paid double to update it across eight languages. Finalizing content up-front could have saved 40% of their translation cost.

How Interpro helps: We support you in setting up internal content workflows so translations only begin when files are ready. That keeps your budget and delivery timelines predictable.

Strategy 3: Bundle Content Strategically

What it means: Group similar documents, projects, or campaigns together for translation instead of submitting them piecemeal.

Why it saves: Bundling reduces administrative work and increases Translation Memory (TM) leveraging to help qualify the bundled projects for volume pricing. Translators can also work more efficiently the more context they have available.

Example: A marketing team that bundled three product brochures instead of submitting them separately saved ~25% by reducing repetitive work and formatting time.

How Interpro helps: We can help you coordinate large content drops while providing guidance on batching for TM optimization.

Strategy 4: Use a Partner That Builds and Maintains Your Translation Memory

What it means: A TM stores previously-translated segments to reuse in future projects.

Why it saves: You don’t pay full price again for content already translated. Plus, it ensures terminology and phrasing stay consistent, and increases translator productivity.

Example: SEIU 775 Benefits Group built a TM across 18 languages and saw long-term cost reductions thanks to reusable content segments.

How Interpro helps: We create, manage, and regularly update TMs for all clients. You own the data and can request your TM any time.

Strategy 5: Establish a Translation Glossary Early On

What it means: A glossary defines preferred translations for key terms, product names, and jargon.

Why it saves: It reduces questions from linguists, avoids inconsistencies, and cuts down on revision cycles.

Example: Armstrong International used a glossary to unify 8 localized websites. This upfront investment eliminated repeat edits and ensured brand alignment.

How Interpro helps: We help clients build custom glossaries from day one and integrate them into all active projects.

Strategy 6: Invest in Consistent Source Language

What it means: Write your original content clearly and uniformly.

Why it saves: Good source content leads to more accurate, faster translations and reduces the number of clarifications requested by linguists.

Example: A technical manufacturer improved source documentation clarity, which cut their average translation time by 30%.

How Interpro helps: Our linguists flag unclear phrasing and help you refine your source content when needed.

Strategy 7: Avoid Overlocalizing When Not Necessary

What it means: Focus your efforts on translating high-impact content. Not every visual, word, or sentence needs to be localized. 

Why it saves: Prioritizing only what’s essential prevents unnecessary translation spend, especially for internal or low-visibility content.

Example: Global HR teams often opt to translate only key educational content that improves culture, while seeing diminishing returns on translating complete policy and educational libraries. Generally HR will focus on translating employee handbooks, key onboarding and safety courses, and required annual training.

How Interpro helps: We advise on what to translate fully, partially, or not at all based on your goals and audience.

New to localization? We cover localization for business basics in this article. 

Strategy 8: Leverage Translation Memory Across Projects

What it means: Apply your existing TM to every new translation request.

Why it saves: Reused content in the translation memory gets translated faster and more affordably. The more you translate, the more you save over time.

Example: A medical client reused 30% of content in every quarterly training update. With TM in place, they reduced their per-project cost by nearly one-third.

How Interpro helps: We track TM usage metrics and advise clients on areas of high reuse to maximize ROI.

Strategy 9:  Consider Machine Translation with Human Review for Low-Risk Content

What it means: AI-powered machine translation is proving to be effective in different industries, just be sure to follow it with human post-editing.

Why it saves: For non-critical documents, this hybrid method offers fast, affordable translation with acceptable accuracy.

Example: Recently, clients are using AI translation with human review called Machine Translation Post-Editing for translating internal training guides, lowering costs while preserving readability.

How Interpro helps: We offer secure, human-reviewed MT workflows with quality controls in place to avoid inaccuracies, errors, and brand damage.

Strategy 10: Prioritize Languages Based on Business Goals

What it means: Focus on translating for high-impact markets first, then scale.

Why it saves: Every additional language increases costs. Starting small allows you to test performance and return before broadening scope.

Example: A manufacturing organization translated into Spanish and German based on market data, then expanded to four more languages after proving ROI in new markets.

How Interpro helps: Our consulting services help you identify the most valuable languages for your audience and business model, and then create an efficient translation process.

Strategy 11: Reuse Previously-Translated Assets

What it means: Repurpose translations from one medium (e.g., a brochure) to another (e.g., web copy).

Why it saves: You avoid duplicating work for similar content and ensure consistency across touchpoints.

Example: A client repurposed product descriptions from translated spec sheets for their ecommerce site, eliminating the need for separate translations.

How Interpro helps: We archive and manage all translated content so you can easily reuse it across channels.

Strategy 12: Choose a Partner That Offers Strategic Guidance

What it means: Work with a provider that advises you, and can guide the translation process for you.

Why it saves: Strategic guidance prevents costly missteps and helps you plan smarter from the beginning.

Example: Association Forum partnered with Interpro to localize their events and publications. Our consultative approach helped them avoid rushed rework and streamline multilingual content across all platforms.

How Interpro helps: We don’t just execute. We collaborate with you to build efficient, scalable, and budget-conscious translation programs.

Key Takeaways: Translation Savings Without CompromisingQuality

Looking to make your translation strategy more efficient and your translation budget work smarter? Schedule a consultation with Interpro today and let’s talk.

Every dollar you spend on translation should go toward accuracy, clarity, and long-term value. These 12 cost-saving strategies help you reduce spend, improve consistency, and scale communication confidently.

These recommendations come from years of seeing what works and what doesn’t. Translation can be complex, but it doesn’t have to be overwhelming or unnecessarily expensive. When you plan ahead, partner well, and use the right tools, you can control costs while increasing impact.

At Interpro, we help our clients build smart, scalable strategies that support long-term growth. If you’re looking for a partner who’s been in your shoes and knows how to make every cent matter, we’re here to help.

The post 12 Smart Ways to Save on Translation Costs appeared first on Interpro Translation Solutions.

The Challenge of Translating PDFs

Businesses invest a lot of time and effort into the presentation of their documents. You work to make sure the information is clear, complete, and easy to understand. You format it to look sharp, neat, and appealing. Then, you save the file as a PDF to prevent unauthorized edits and ensure it looks uniformly good on every device.

Which is great – until you need to distribute it in a different language.

Because PDFs can be viewed on multiple platforms, devices, and operating systems, they offer an ideal way to connect with customers and employees around the world. Companies rely on PDFs for official documents, user manuals, marketing materials, training materials, and other communications.

For many international businesses, the difficulty lies in translation because PDFs are not easily editable, and you may find yourself creating new documents every time you need to distribute the information in a new language.

The secure nature of the PDF format makes it uniquely difficult for many companies to translate. Many PDF documents, such as brochures and workbooks, are painstakingly formatted, and contain images and other types of graphics (i.e., flowcharts, org charts, etc.). Pasting in translated text without consideration for these design elements leaves the translated document looking messy, unprofessional, and second-rate – surely not the impression you are trying to make.

AI Translation vs. Human Translators

Many companies look for a quick solution and trust their PDF translation to an automated system – and then live to regret it.

Artificial Intelligence (AI) is still notoriously unreliable at language translation. While AI can follow simple commands, human language is complex and ever-evolving.

It’s also impossible for AI to appreciate the nuances of idioms and cultural context. If your document warns the reader not to “cut corners,” will the AI logic understand it to mean not to skip steps in the work? Or will it literally tell the reader not to remove the corners from a task?

A professional human translator, on the other hand, brings the expertise to reliably and accurately translate your PDF into any language. Your translated PDF will be technically accurate and culturally on target, as well as being properly formatted so your audience doesn’t feel like they’re getting a second-rate version of the information.

Understanding the PDF Translation Process

Interpro is ISO certified and offers certified translations, meaning, our professional translators follow rigorous processes when translating PDFs (or any other materials) in order to produce a quality product. After extracting the source text, we translate it, taking care to localize the language to the specific region where the final document will be distributed. Once translated, it is then revised and edited prior to undergoing final Quality Assurance before delivery.

For example, while populations in Spain, Mexico, and Chile all speak Spanish, each geography has its own distinct nuances. Likewise, a PDF translated into French for a Canadian audience will be different from one translated for a European French audience.

Once the translator is satisfied that the target language accurately conveys the meaning of the source language, the translated content is handed over to a multilingual desktop publishing specialist.

Interpro’s DTP expert formats documents after translation.

These professionals format the translated text to mirror the design of the original document. In most cases, adjustments need to be made to accommodate the translated content.

For example, translated text may take up more or less space than the source-language content. You can make your document more translation-friendly by leaving wide margins on each page in your original design, so there is space for text to expand if necessary.

When translating a language like English, which is read left-to-right, into a language like Farsi, which is read right-to-left, the desktop publishing specialist will need to tweak the design in order for the text to flow more naturally.

This formatting step makes sure every audience gets the benefit of an attractive, high-quality document. Besides making sure the text flows smoothly and is easy to read, a design professional will make sure graphic elements are properly adjusted where necessary, maintaining the look and feel of the source language layout.

Interpro’s designers have the technical expertise to make your PDFs print ready. We will work directly with your print provider to match your document to the specifications they need.

Translating PDFs with Images: Make It Easier (and reduce costs)

Another way to make your PDFs translation-friendly is by minimizing the amount of text embedded in graphic elements. 

A flowchart, for example, is a graphic with a number of text labels. Once you save that graphic as an image, those labels revert from being live text to simply being part of the image. This will add a few manual steps to the formatting process. The text will need to be manually extracted for translation, and the typesetting in the image will need to be redone.

When including text-heavy graphics like charts within a document, be sure to keep the original, editable source files saved along with your document files so that you can reproduce them when it’s time to translate. When you have the option of using a graphic with text or a graphic without, opt for the one without.

“Do you really need the PDF source file? What if I don’t have it?”

When viewing a PDF, you are looking at a snapshot that was created in another application, such as Microsoft Word or InDesign, for example. With PDF translation, it is always most efficient to work with the source authoring file, such as the original Microsoft Word document. A quality translation provider will have the technical capability to work with a wide variety of authoring applications, including Microsoft Word (.DOCX), Adobe InDesign (.INDD), and Adobe Photoshop (.PSD), to name a few.

Sometimes the source file may have been corrupted or lost, and Interpro is here to help support even in difficult situations. No source file doesn’t mean the PDF can’t be translated, it just means that additional steps must be taken to recreate it. First, the text is extracted from the PDF and placed into an editable format. Once the translation is complete, desktop publishers will create a new document that looks as close as possible to the original.

These extra steps invariably incur additional cost and time. When creating new documents, keep the source files saved together with the PDF. When it is time to translate – whether that’s six months or six years later – everything will be available at your fingertips.

Interpro’s Director of Project Management and Armstrong China’s Marketing Team

Success Story: Why A Global Manufacturer Trusts Interpro for Translation

Armstrong International, a global leader in thermal utility systems, regularly translates technical PDFs such as spec sheets and product documentation. Interpro’s team handles layout, DTP, and translation simultaneously to ensure every document maintains integrity in over 100 countries. With in-country reviewers validating every word and our DTP team ensuring formatting perfection, Armstrong can confidently release documents without rework or risk.

Providing your business documents in both the format and the language your audiences need is no longer a luxury. It’s an expectation.

Ready to Translate? Start With a Single PDF

Want to see what a professionally translated PDF looks like? Get the behind-the-scenes professional translation experience and request a free sample translation. 

We’ll take you through the document translation process with one of your documents to show how Interpro makes it seamless to get accurate translations, tone, and formatting every time.

Preserving your brand and message intent is the start of your growth strategy, your risk mitigation plan, and your key to clear communication. Whether you’re targeting international markets or supporting U.S. audiences with English-as-a-Second Language, we tailor translation solutions that help you scale with confidence.

 Get a Sample Translation

The post A Founder’s Perspective: Professional PDF Translation to Avoid Google Gaffes and Ensure Accuracy appeared first on Interpro Translation Solutions.

The Training 2025 Conference and Expo provided an exciting opportunity to engage with industry professionals, explore new learning management systems (LMS), and discuss the growing demand for eLearning translation and localization.

Our key takeaway after talking to hundreds of people at the event?

Many companies still struggle with implementing effective multilingual training solutions.

For Interpro Translation Solutions, this presents both an opportunity and a responsibility to help organizations overcome localization challenges and create engaging, accessible, and culturally relevant training content. Here’s what we learned and how we can help companies move forward.

1. The Translation Maturity Gap

One of the most surprising observations at the conference was the lack of localization sophistication among companies offering training materials. Some organizations still rely on internal training staff to translate content in their “spare” time and often overwriting English text with Spanish without using Translation Memory (TM) tools, glossaries, or proper linguistic validation.

Interpro’s Perspective:

This highlights a major gap between companies realizing the need for multilingual training and those implementing best practices for eLearning localization. Effective training translation requires more than just language conversion—it demands cultural adaptation, user experience optimization, and technology integration.

Interpro’s translation and localization process ensures that companies don’t just translate words, but deliver fully localized training experiences. This includes:

• Target language voiceovers and closed captions for eLearning courses
• Translation and engineering of Storyline 360, Rise 360, and other eLearning authoring applications
• Desktop publishing (DTP) for ancillary training materials (participant workbooks, handouts, and training guides)

2. LMS Innovation: What’s New in the Market?

While attending the expo, we noticed a wave of new LMS platforms entering the market. Some were unfamiliar, indicating that companies are actively searching for more customizable, user-friendly learning solutions.

Interpro’s Perspective:

This raises an important question: Are companies considering localization capabilities when selecting an LMS? Or should they be considering a flexible translation company that fits into your existing workflows and tech?

Many organizations invest in an LMS without fully evaluating how it handles multilingual content, right-to-left (RTL) languages, learner progress, or localization-friendly authoring tools.

Interpro helps organizations assess their LMS for localization readiness and works directly within platforms like:

• Articulate Storyline and Rise 360
• Adobe Captivate
• Moodle, Docebo, Artisan, and other custom LMS platforms

3. Common Questions (So we will answer them for you!)

The most frequently asked questions at our booth centered around:

How is translation pricing structured?

Interestingly, there were fewer inquiries about per-word rates, signaling a shift in mindset—companies are thinking beyond cost and prioritizing quality and efficiency. This is especially key with educational materials when you consider eLearning courses involve much more than translating documents for learner engagement and retention.

Pricing is structured according to your needs with consideration given to:

• Is your content a good candidate for AI translation? (Cost + time savings here)
• Do you have a translation style guide, translation glossary, or translation memory? (Consistency, cost + time savings here)
• Do you need multilingual desktop publishing services or engineering for a specific type of LMS? (Cost could increase.)
• Do you require accurate translations and a quality assurance process that ensures your translation is delivered perfect and ready to publish? (Cost could increase)

In general, cost will vary across different translation providers. So, you need to dig into their processes and their promises and evaluate if the translation provided fits the exact workflow your team needs to ensure a quality education experience.

What does the localization process involve?

• Scope out the course: determine all elements that require translation
• Translate all content, including on-screen text
• Localize images containing text
• Translate the narrative script (if one doesn’t exit, transcribe the narration to a script)
• Provide target-language voiceover recording to replace the source voiceover
• Provide target language videos (localizing on-screen text and audio)
• Translate all knowledge checks, quizzes and tests (questions and answers)
• Sync the target-language voiceover to what appears in the course
• Validate the translated course to ensure 100% functionality with the source language course

How long does it take to translate an eLearning course?

The amount of time required to translate an eLearning course is dependent on a number of elements. For example:

• duration of the source language course
• difficulty of the target language
• volume of words requiring translation
• length of the narration (if voiceover is required)
• number of quizzes or tests
• embedded videos that may require localization

Interpro’s Perspective:

eLearning translation is not just a cost with a simple process and two day turnaround—it’s an investment. Companies that cut corners with inadequate translation processes often face higher long-term costs due to low learner engagement, inaccurate translations, and time-consuming revisions.

Our consultative approach ensures that clients understand the full scope of eLearning localization:

Pre-project consulting to help clients plan their multilingual training rollout

End-to-end solutions—we don’t just translate; we integrate content within your LMS.

Scalability—Interpro can handle training materials in multiple languages simultaneously, ensuring global reach.

4. High-Quality Conversations & Client Engagement

Companies were excited to learn about how eLearning is evolving globally. We got to chat with our friends and clients at Beacon, CompoSecure, and d’Vinci. They confirmed many of Interpro’s speculations about the eLearning industry that will impact how Interpro approaches translating educational content this year.

Interpro’s Perspective:

The demand for customized, high-quality eLearning localization is growing, and companies are eager for expert guidance. As a trusted partner, we emphasize:

• Quality-first localization that aligns with corporate learning objectives
• Cultural and linguistic adaptation to enhance learner engagement
• Proactive client support, ensuring training materials are impactful across global teams

Moving Forward: The Future of eLearning Localization

The insights from Training 2025 reaffirm Interpro’s role as a leader in eLearning localization. As organizations scale their training initiatives, multilingual accessibility will be key to workforce development. Our goal is to bridge the localization gap—helping companies transform training programs into truly global learning experiences.

If your organization is looking to improve eLearning localization strategies, we’d love to help.

The post The Future of eLearning Localization: 4 Takeaways Companies Must Know appeared first on Interpro Translation Solutions.

As Interpro reflects on this journey, we are deeply grateful to our valued clients, whose trust and collaboration have made our dreams come true, and to our dedicated employees, whose expertise and commitment drive our success. 

Cheers to the first 30 years – and Salute, Prost, and Santé to the next 30!

The Essence of Interpro Began Long Before Opening it’s Doors

1960s: The Spark of Language

Mid-1960s, Forest Park, IL
A young Ralph Strozza becomes fascinated by language as his Italian grandfather, Luca, and great-uncle, Rocco, move into the family’s basement apartment in the Chicago suburbs. Watching his mother effortlessly switch between Italian and English—a form of natural, everyday interpreting—Ralph develops a passion for languages that will shape his entire life.

“I was in awe of my mother and the way she would carry on a conversation in Italian with her father and uncle, only to effortlessly revert to English to remind my brothers and me to get our homework done before we could go out to play with our friends.”

Ralph’s journey begins with Italian lessons in the basement, laying the foundation for what will become a lifetime of learning and appreciating communication across languages, and the earliest seeds of a company providing professional translation services.

“They bought me books like ‘See It and Say It in Italian’, as well as pocket dictionaries so that I could look up words, and I spent countless hours in their basement apartment attempting to learn the Italian language.”

1970s: Formal Education

High School Years
Disappointed that Italian isn’t offered at his high school, Ralph enrolls in Spanish 101, falling in love with the beauty of the words, grammar, and culture/history. He advances through multiple levels, not knowing that years later his company will be providing specialized Spanish translation services to global businesses.

“I loved everything about it. The beauty of the spoken words. The grammar. Spanish culture and history. And of course, the cuisine!”

Despite warnings about the difficulty of studying two foreign languages simultaneously, Ralph adds French to his studies in his senior year, drawn by the beauty of the language overheard from a neighboring classroom— appropriate, since French translation services will one day be in high demand in the business world.

“I hesitated because of all the warnings about how hard it was to study 2 foreign languages, how confusing it would be, how I would mix Spanish words with French words, etc. However, this was my senior year, and what did I have to lose?”

Interpro couldn’t have happened without the moral support of our 4-legged loved ones.

Mid-1970s/Early 1980s: College and Career Beginnings

College Years
Ralph pursues a double major in French (emphasis in Business and Translation) and Marketing, with Spanish as a minor, building the expertise that will later support software localization and document translation services for international businesses.

“By my sophomore year, the die was cast: I would double major in French and Marketing, and Spanish would take up the rear as my minor.”

Ralph then spends Spring semester of his junior year studying in Avignon, France, at the Institut Américain and the Faculté des Lettres. He lives with a French family and takes courses taught entirely in French, achieving fluency through total immersion and developing the cultural sensitivity that will later influence the certified translation services offered by his company.

“Thinking in French, writing in French, taking tests in French, and then coming home to French dinner conversation was exhausting. I never slept better or more soundly than I did during my French study abroad.”

Graduate School and Post-Graduation
After college, Ralph works at Air Canada for one year before accepting a Graduate Assistantship at Northwestern University to pursue a Master’s in French, both opportunities that expand his understanding of French language and literature and business communication across languages.

“One door closes, and another one opens, right? I accepted the position, reasoning that there were worse things than having Northwestern pay me to spend two years getting an MA in French.”

1982: Entry into Translation Technology

WCC, Chicago
Ralph secures a part-time position as a French, Italian, and Spanish lexicographer for WCC, a leading developer of Computer Assisted Translation (CAT) software (now called MT or Machine Translation). This first exposure to using computers to translate between languages proves fascinating and influential—an early glimpse of the technology that will revolutionize translation services and eventually lead to capabilities like JSON translation and XML translation.

“This was my introduction to computers and the utterly fascinating world of using them to translate from one language to another.”

Mid-1980s: European Experience

Toulouse, France
When WCC partners with a company in Toulouse, Ralph jumps at the opportunity to help set up their European operations. He spends two years establishing their translation service bureau, hiring and training staff, and selling CAT systems across Europe—gaining invaluable experience in document translation services and the emerging field of software localization.

“Spending 2 years doing this allowed me to check off one of the items on my fledgling bucket list: to live and work in Europe at some point in my career.”

Personal Milestone
Ralph then meets the love of his life, Beatrice, and marries her in Bari, Italy before returning to the United States to continue career advancement in the growing industry of global translation services.

Interpro’s Founder and former CEO traveling with friends and family

Late 1980s: Corporate Translation Experience

WCC, Chicago (Again)
Ralph returns to WCC and is promoted to VP of Marketing and Sales, selling MT systems and translation services, including early versions of what will later evolve into eCommerce Localization and Online Help Localization.

Intergraph Corporation
After WCC is acquired and subsequently shut down by a Japanese company, Ralph joins Intergraph Corporation to manage their in-house Translation Department. He successfully builds a team localizing CAD-CAM software and translating documentation into French, German, Italian, Portuguese, and Spanish—developing expertise that will later support technical translation services and localization services at Interpro.

“With a wife and two-year-old son, I needed to find a job very quickly, and Intergraph obliged by hiring me just as soon as WCC folded, giving me the responsibility of managing their Translation Department.”

Late 1980s-Early 1990s: Expansion into Enterprise Software

System Software Associates (SSA), Chicago
Ralph is recruited by SSA—the world’s leading developer of ERP software for the IBM AS/400 midrange computer—to build and lead their translation department, where he gains in-depth experience with business translation services, complex software localization, and technical documentation translation.

Growth at SSA
Over five years, Ralph expanded the department to 52 staff members, translating products into ten languages: Chinese (Simplified and Traditional), Dutch, French, German, Italian, Japanese, Portuguese (for Brazil), Spanish, and Swedish. This multilingual team handled complex software localization and document translation projects, including Excel translation, PowerPoint translation, and PPTX translation for international business clients.

Market Gap Identified
With over 60% of SSA’s sales coming from overseas, clients frequently ask Ralph about translation services for their custom modifications. Ralph discovers a significant market need with few viable solutions available, especially for AS/400 software localization and professional translation services for technical documentation.

“When I explained that my job was to get National Language Versions of SSA’s software, help text and documentation out the door, and there was no bandwidth for anything more, their follow-up question was always ‘Who can you recommend to do this?’”

“Only IBM’s Translation Center in Copenhagen had the experienced staff and equipment to localize AS/400 software. But they were slow. And they were expensive. This was a market niche that needed to be filled.”

Excerpt from a 2002 edition of Interpro’s newsletter: InterProspectives

Fun Fact: Beshar and Larry have been part of our team for over 25 years, playing a key role in building Interpro into what it is today. We’re grateful for their dedication and loyalty!

Interpro Translation Solutions is Born

October 1994
Ralph Strozza founded Interpro Translation Solutions, a specialized translation agency, with a vision to fill the market gap identified through years of industry experience. The agency focuses on software localization, and online Help and document translation services.

“This is how Interpro Translation Solutions came to be founded in October 1994, with actual operations beginning in March 1995. My experience over the previous ten years in the industry dictated how I wanted to approach this.”

Ralph’s vision for a translation company that put people and quality first came to life over the following 30 years.

Some images of Interpro over the past 30 years. To all who have contributed to Interpro’s success: we thank you.

March 1995
Official operations begin with Ralph’s clear set of foundational principles:

• In-country translators who live and breathe their language daily for accurate, idiomatic translations and other language-based service offerings
• Team-based approach using established language companies rather than freelancers to ensure uninterrupted quality translation services
• State-of-the-art technology for consistency, efficiency, and faster turnaround, particularly for PDF translation and other document translation services
• In-house localization engineers for software processing, specializing in Agile Localization methodologies before they became an industry standard
• Partner-based, consultative, solutions-oriented approach to language translation services
• Quality-focused “Nordstrom, not Walmart” pricing philosophy for professional translation services

“First, the professional translators, revisers, and proofreaders needed to be based in-country where they spoke and lived their language day in, day out. This was the fundamental ingredient needed to produce a quality product, in my opinion.”

“Our approach was going to be partner-based, consultative, and solutions-oriented. The objective was to cultivate long-term relationships by providing a transparent, scalable, and cost-effective quality service.”

“When prospects would inquire about pricing, my response was always – and remains to this day – that we will rarely be their lowest price option out of the gate. However, Interpro would prove to be a cost-effective long-term solution. Think Nordstrom, not Walmart, is an analogy I would often make.”

Some Interpro team members over the decades

1995-2025: Three Decades of Growth and Evolution

Late 1990s
As the internet transforms global business, Ralph’s company expands to offer website localization, online translation services, and the first generation of eCommerce localization services.

Early 2000s
He develops capabilities in multimedia translation, including voice over translation and early forms of video translation services as digital media becomes more prevalent in business communication.

2010s
Ralph then moves to mobile and cloud technologies, adding specialized services for multimedia and video translation, like subtitle translation, SRT translation, and WebVTT translation for the growing video market. He then expands Interpro’s eLearning localization services as corporate training goes digital, offering specialized Captivate translation, Storyline translation, and Rise translation solutions.

Early 2020s
Ralph guides the company to obtain ISO 9001:2015 (Quality Management) and ISO 17100:2015 (Translation Services) certifications, ensuring rigorous quality management and translation standards. These certifications allow the organization to provide ATC-certified translations, giving clients confidence of always receiving the highest level of quality and service.

Technology Transformation
From the early days of dial-up internet (when only one person could be online at a time), fax machines, floppy disks, and revolutionary Adobe Acrobat, Ralph witnesses and adapts to the complete digital transformation of the translation industry. He introduces new interpreting services, including webinar interpreting and translation, as well as remote simultaneous interpreting (RSI), to meet evolving client needs.

“During the past thirty years, much has changed. Dial-up access to the ‘worldwide web’ (for those of us who remember it), meant having only one person being able to access the internet at a time. Faxes were considered high-tech. Translated product was delivered on floppy disks, or on CDs for the technically advanced.”

Business Philosophy Maintained
Despite massive technological changes, the core principles established at Interpro’s founding remain the foundation of the organization, proving as relevant in 2025 as they were in 1995. Ralph’s commitment to quality in legal translation services, healthcare and medical translation services, and certified translations services never wavers.

Client Relationships
Ralph’s initial vision of cultivating hundreds of long-term clients working with Interpro for decades, rather than thousands of one-time projects is achieved.

Many clients rely on Interpro for complex desktop publishing services and InDesign translation, as well as document translation, including survey translation, and Agile translation methodologies for fast-moving projects.

“Rather than having thousands of clients and one-and-done projects, we would have hundreds of clients working with us for decades, referring us to colleagues, other contacts, or their new employer if they moved on to a new position.”

Interpro clients and partners have contributed to Interpro’s success

2025: 30th Anniversary Milestone

Looking Back and Forward
Ralph celebrates 30 years of Interpro Translation Solutions and reflects on the 60-year journey that began in a Chicago area basement. His story is a testament to how a childhood fascination with language can grow into a successful global business, offering translation services online and beyond.

Service Portfolio
Interpro Translation Solutions now offers a comprehensive suite of services including:

• Document translation service for all file formats
• Software localization for global product launches
• Event interpreting and corporate communication
• Translation services and support for 128+ language pairs

Founder’s Reflection

“My love of languages—ignited in a basement sixty years ago—and fascination with translation technology have not waned over the years. If anything, they were enhanced by the Interpro experience. Many people say that to work at what you love is the dream. I suppose, then, that I’m living mine. Despite the many challenges inherent in founding and building an organization over a thirty-year span (and counting), Interpro has been, and continues to be, my dream job.”

“As I look at how I approached what I wanted the Company to become, I am very happy to see that the cornerstones of our operating model, established at Interpro’s infancy, continue to be the foundation of our organization, and are as relevant in 2025 as they were in 1995.”

Some Interpro Team members in 2025

Trust Interpro as Your Next Translation and Interpreting Partner

With 30 incredible years in business, Interpro has the experience and expertise to help your business effectively communicate your brand’s message across different languages and cultures.

Ready to get started? Contact us today and make your next translation project easier.

The post Interpro Celebrates 30 Years in Business and a 60-Year Journey Through Time appeared first on Interpro Translation Solutions.

A New Mission with Renewed Purpose

Wishing everyone a very happy holiday season and New Year! For those who are interested in the latest updates about Interpro, we have some news to share.

As we near almost 30 years in business, we want to take time to look back and reflect on this year. We decided it was time to update the corporate mission statement which has guided us from 1995 until this year:

“Assist our clients in increasing revenue, market share, and user satisfaction by providing the highest quality translation and interpretation services in the industry.”

With much consideration, care, and input from the entire Interpro team, our new mission statement is:

“We create stronger relationships through language, and relationships create a better world. Interpro connects people of different cultures worldwide through language while creating long-term partnerships that bridge cultures and remove language barriers.”

The updated mission reflects a more altruistic approach to our business activities: eliminating language barriers in order to improve the world we live in. This also reinforces our core objective of creating relationships to help our clients achieve their goals by delivering quality language services. I’m excited and proud to share this new mission statement as an essential step in Interpro’s rebrand initiative.

We have consistently increased our investments in people, technology, and processes in order to ensure that total client satisfaction continues to be top of mind. And we will continue to improve your experience with Interpro this year with better delivery, an elevated brand experience, and a new website.

A New interproinc.com

An updated mission is statement is only the beginning. We will be bringing a redesigned interproinc.com in the future!

Our current website has served us well, but to align the new mission statement and new Interpro brand we are building, we will be unveiling a completely redesigned Interpro website this year. We look forward to providing a better user experience and giving you a chance to test drive it.

Our Investment in People

The most critical investment we are making this year is the expansion of our team of language professionals. Our dedicated, caring, and talented team forms the nucleus for providing the highest quality translations and the best possible client service. We look forward to expanding our team with valuable subject matter experts as Interpro continues to grow.

I’m thrilled to introduce the newest additions to the Interpro family!

• Emalyn Caballero – Project Assistant
• Erich Fang – Sales Support Representative
• Arianna Martin – Project Manager
• Stephanie Felt – Project Assistant
• Philip Pittsford – Director of Sales
• Anthony Mattucci – Director of Delivery
• Cambria Morrow – Project Manager

Each employee on our team brings a unique set of skills and experiences, and all have been hired to help us achieve our ultimate goal of delivering total client satisfaction. We look forward to the contributions each of them will make to Interpro.

Interpro Offers ISO Certified Translation Services

In 2020, Interpro began the process toward achieving two ISO certifications that ownership deemed strategic to long-term success:

• 9001:2015: Quality Management Systems
• 17100:2015: Translation Services

We were awarded both certifications in June 2021 and undergo annual surveillance audits to ensure continuous compliance with the standards. We view our ISO certifications as mission-critical, and maintaining them is a point of pride for our organization.

Achieving and maintaining our ISO certifications requires a continuous investment in money, time, and commitment. However, we feel strongly that the ROI is being able to deliver on our promise of quality, service, and total client satisfaction.

The beginning of each year is a time to identify upcoming goals. In accordance with our updated mission, we remain dedicated to creating stronger relationships in order to create a better world. For each of us.

Here’s to a happy, healthy and successful 2023!

Trust Interpro as Your Next Translation and Interpreting Partner

Interpro has the experience and expertise to help your business effectively communicate your brand’s message across different languages and cultures.

Ready to get started? Contact us today and make your next translation project easier.

The post Interprospectives: Inside Interpro’s Mission with Founder Ralph Strozza appeared first on Interpro Translation Solutions.

Learn About Translation ISO Certifications

Translating marketing, training, and other business materials for a multilingual audience is vital to a company’s success. It can also prove that you embrace the growth opportunities afforded by putting your message in front of a multilingual audience.

But be warned – not all translation services are the same. Maybe you’ve been burned by poor translations, documents riddled with errors, or projects that stretched past the deadline and exceeded your initial budgets.

Before rolling the dice on a new translation partner, find out if they are as dedicated to quality as you are. An ISO certification helps ensure the company makes significant investments in committing to quality, continuous improvement, and client satisfaction.

Frequently Asked Questions About ISO-Certified Translation Companies

We will answer these questions in the article:

• What is ISO certification?
• What ISO certifications should I look for in a translation agency?
• Isn’t a translation ISO certification enough?
• Why should I choose an ISO-certified translation company?
• What should I ask when interviewing a translation provider?

What is an ISO Certification?

ISO, the International Organization for Standardization, has developed over 23,874 market-relevant international standards supporting innovation and providing solutions to global challenges for businesses in a multitude of industries.

Working to meet the requirements within ISO standards can help companies achieve consistent results and continually improve their business processes through a commitment to quality and good business practices. ISO-certified organizations are audited annually to ensure that the ISO standards to which they are certified continue to be adhered to.

According to the ISO website, “standards are the distilled wisdom of people with expertise in their subject matter and who know the needs of the organizations they represent – people such as manufacturers, sellers, buyers, customers, trade associations, users or regulators.”

ISO Standards for Translation Companies

When considering translation companies, there are two ISO standards that are especially relevant:

• ISO 9001:2015 Quality Management Systems
• ISO 17100:2015 Translation Services
  

Interpro Translation Solutions’ ISO Certification Badges

Interpro Translation Solutions has been awarded both certifications, but translation agencies can opt to hold both, one, or neither of these certifications. We feel that adhering to the requirements of both standards shows our commitment to consistently delivering quality translations.

ISO 9001:2015 (Quality Management)

ISO 9001 is the world’s best-known quality management standard for organizations of any size.

It’s confirmation that a company has the processes in place and a demonstrated ability to consistently deliver high-quality products and services to meet or exceed customer expectations for satisfaction.

To obtain – and maintain – certification, auditors assess the company on requirements that support these core principles:

1. Customer focus
2. Leadership
3. Engagement of people
4. Process approach
5. Improvement
6. Evidence-based decision making
7. Relationship management

Additional business aspects covered by the ISO 9001 standard include:

• Identifying, correcting, and preventing errors
• Planning, operating, documenting, and controlling company processes
• Collecting customer feedback and implementing suggestions for improvement
• Awareness and effective management of business risks and opportunities

ISO 17100:2015 (Translation Services)

ISO 17100 provides requirements for the core processes, resources, and other aspects necessary for delivering a quality translation service. All translators, revisers, and proofreaders working for a certified agency must meet minimum professional and academic qualifications. The standard also defines how translation projects should be managed from beginning to end.

ISO 17100 includes provisions for:

• Qualifications and competencies of linguistic resources
• Pre-production, such as quotes, agreements, and contracts
• Production, including translation, revision, proofreading, and quality control
• Post-production, including customer feedback, corrections, and satisfaction

The ISO 17100:2015 certification offers confidence that the translation company you choose only uses suitably qualified linguistic resources, providing more consistent quality outcomes for each translation project.

We get asked: Why isn’t ISO 17100 Certification enough for a translation service? Does your translation agency have to have an ISO 9001 Certification for quality as well?

Short answer? No, they don’t have to be certified to both standards. Technically, they don’t have to be certified to any standard.

However, Interpro is certified to both ISO 9001 and ISO 17100 standards because our leadership team feels strongly that adhering to both ISO Standards supports our business mission. Interpro consistently delivers high-quality translations and continuously improves for total client satisfaction.

The Benefits of Choosing an ISO-Certified Translation Company

Customer satisfaction is the ultimate objective of ISO certification. During annual third-party audits, a company must demonstrate that it adheres to each of the requirements within the standard by showing evidence to the auditor.

The Quality Management standard requires companies to develop a systematic approach that drives quality across all departments, levels, and processes. Every department is held to the same high standards, from the translators to the business office to customer service.

“Probably the most critical aspect of working toward certification was our team’s enthusiastic support to adhere to the standards and to constantly strive to improve the ways in which we do our jobs,” said Interpro Founder and CEO Ralph Strozza. “We are constantly documenting and updating processes, developing new processes, and reviewing every aspect of our Integrated Management System.”

ISO certification motivates and encourages translation service providers like Interpro to constantly improve in order to arrive at more efficient solutions.

It’s not enough to do the job well; we have to prove we can do it consistently and reliably.

For clients, that means peace of mind: not only can you trust that the quality of the translated content will be superior, but you can also trust it will be delivered when promised.

“Our ISO certification positions Interpro to deliver real quality to our clients successfully and to best serve interested parties for many years to come,” Ralph said.

Continuous improvement is a hallmark of ISO certification. Working with an ISO-certified translation company means you can be confident that they strive to adhere to the standards. More importantly, you know there is a process to address any possible issues that could arise and that a corrective action plan will be deployed to ensure the issues don’t repeat.

Translation Standards in the Language Industry

You may come across translation agencies using terms like “ISO compliant” or “certified translations.” This is not the same as being ISO certified.

“ISO compliant” means adhering to the requirements of ISO standards without the formalized certification, surveillance, and recertification processes. Companies who claim to be ISO compliant are saying they will do their best, but make no guarantees. The client can’t be sure that rigorous ISO standards are consistently adhered to across the board.

“Certified translations” is a somewhat murky term. There are several organizations that certify individual translators, such as the American Translators Association and the International Federation of Translators. Many of these organizations require passing stringent exams in order to become certified.

These certifications are held by individual translators, not the company, and not their processes as a whole. ISO certification applies to the entire translation process, ensuring everyone involved (your account executive, project manager, translator, billing agent, etc.) is held to the same high standard.

Key things an ISO-certified translation company will do that an uncertified company may not, include:

• Annual audit by an independent party to assess whether translation, revision, and proofreading services are delivered in accordance with the ISO standards to which they are certified;
• Resolving the root cause of issues and deploying corrective action plans in order to make sure they don’t repeat;
• Having documented processes for every functional area of the organization;
• Soliciting and tracking client feedback.

4 Questions to Ask Your Translation Provider

When interviewing translation service providers, you may not know how to gauge the quality of their service. Start with the following questions:

1. Was your company awarded ISO certification by a recognized ISO certification body for quality management and translation services?

The company should hold ISO 17100:2015 (Translation Services) or ISO 9001:2015 (Quality Management) Certifications at a minimum. These ISO certifications offer independent verification that the company follows processes to ensure quality and customer satisfaction for translation services. You can also verify if they are ISO certified by searching for them on their ISO certification body’s website. Additionally, they should be able to provide their certificates on demand, or ideally, make them available and downloadable from their website. View Interpro Translation Solutions’ certificates for ISO 9001:2015 (Quality Management) and ISO 17100:2015 (Translation Services).

2. Do you use Machine Translation (MT) to translate content?

If a translation agency is offering Machine Translation (MT), make sure that they are certified to ISO 18587, which provides for the process of full, human post-editing of machine translation output and post-editors’ competencies.

Some translation providers use MT and MT processes based on AI to translate content without post-editing but don’t disclose that unless they’re specifically asked. But MT is notoriously known for being inaccurate. Using AI-based MT alone to translate may also result in a higher level of errors in the target-language product. If a company is using MT, but doesn’t involve human post-editing through revision and proofreading processes, that’s a red flag. Most translation companies that use MT do so in order to save money and deliver faster. It is extremely unethical if the client is paying for professional human translation, and their translation provider does not disclose that they are using MT.

3. Describe your standard Quality Assurance workflow.

You want to know that the company follows a process not just for the translation, revision, and proofreading of your material, but also to ensure total quality through quality control and quality assurance. They should be able to explain their complete workflow step by step and if they can’t, that’s another red flag.

4. Does your quote include proofreading, revision, and final Quality Assurance?

Be sure you know exactly which services are included in the quotation provided to you. An ISO certified translation company is required by the standard to be transparent in disclosing all of the services included in their quotations.

High-quality professional translation opens the door to global business growth – whether you’re translating a website, an eLearning course, or employee training materials. ISO certification demonstrates that a translation provider is committed to delivering a great experience to both you and your audience.

Here’s the process that Interpro follows to deliver document translations in accordance with ISO 9001:2015 and 17100:2015 standards.

Translation Agency with ISO Certifications

Professionals can find a foreign language partner in Interpro Translation Solutions. No matter the project size, languages, or deadlines, Interpro has an expert team to meet your translation needs.

Get a Quote for Your Translation Project

References

International Organization for Standardization

ISO 9001:2015 Quality Management Systems

ISO 17100:2015 Translation Services

The post ISO Certifications: Why They Matter When Choosing a Translation Company appeared first on Interpro Translation Solutions.

If your content is going to reach international audiences, clarity is the goal. Translation-friendly text will not only help your global trainees better comprehend and engage the course, it will help reduce overall cost (and headaches) in the long run.

The aim of eLearning translation and localization is to give a product the look and feel of having been created specifically for a target market, no matter their language, culture, or location. There are a handful of best practices you should consider as you develop eLearning programs to ensure they are easily localized and produce the right results no matter where your audience is located.

Be sensitive to cultural differences in visual aids

Signs, symbols, and colors should be thought out carefully to ensure you’re not surprised by what is considered positive in one country and negative or unlucky in another.

For example, the “peace sign” (specifically when your palm is facing you) is the equivalent of giving someone the finger in the United Kingdom, Australia, and South Africa. In Iran and several other Middle Eastern countries, the “thumbs up” symbol traditionally translates as a foul insult.¹

Colors can also stir up powerful emotions. In South Africa, for instance, the color red is associated with mourning and in France, yellow signifies jealously, betrayal, weakness, and contradiction.²

If you take time to do your research as you prepare images, videos, or graphics for your eLearning course, you may eliminate time-consuming work later on.

Avoid slang, local humor, or abstract concepts prior to eLearning translation

Cultural sensitivity is a key element when it comes to localizing content. An offensive remark may cause learners to become disengaged or make your organization appear unprofessional. Take time to research the area the course will be completed in, including its culture and customs.

It’s essential that you write clearly and avoid unclear messaging. Try to avoid idiomatic expressions, as well as local or national landmarks or reference points, and other American-specific cultural items like sports.

For example, “taking a rain check” was a baseball term used when a game was rained out and spectators received a rain check to allow entrance to a future game. Today it’s used more widely to mean an event will be rescheduled for a more convenient date, but is still a uniquely American phrase and confusing to other cultures. You want to always be clear and inclusive in the language you use.³

Also, be aware of potential text expansion and make sure there is space to allow for it. Depending on the language, localized text can expand 20 to 50 percent in length. Make sure your source content is less text heavy or has room for expansion, so you’re not faced with localization challenges or delayed timelines.

Consider varying interpretations of time for eLearning Translation

Some cultures think of time sequentially and others view time synchronically. In sequential cultures (like North America, England, Germany, and Sweden), business people give full attention to one agenda item after another. In synchronic cultures (including South America, southern Europe, and Asia) the flow of time is viewed as a circle, with the past, present, and future all connected.

The way a culture views time should influence how the eLearning course approaches deadlines, strategy, planning, and overall training.

Infrastructure may look different in other countries

Finally, you may need to consider the infrastructure realities in certain countries. Bandwidth and hardware issues, or even computer/Internet accessibility, might influence the types of content you develop. Again, do your research and get creative when needed.

By making eLearning translation and localization a priority and taking best practices into account, you will ensure that your content is seen, heard, and experienced in the most effective way possible.

^[1] http://list25.com/25-cultural-faux-pas-you-dont-want-to-commit-while-traveling/5/
^[2] http://www.huffingtonpost.com/smartertravel/what-colors-mean-in-other_b_9078674.html
^[3] Communicating Across Cultures, ASME

The post Breaking Language Barriers: How eLearning Translation Reaches a Global Audience appeared first on Interpro Translation Solutions.

In 2015, the internet was used by 3.2 billion people, nearly half of the world’s population, so translating your marketing materials, website, and other content into different languages is a no-brainer to achieve global success. But it’s not something you want to leave in the hands of individual translators or your own employees. Your company is professional, and you should rely on a professional translation company to help your business enter the global market and reap these five benefits.

1. A professional translation company provides localization.

Preparing your business to go global is so much more than simply translating your website copy and content into another language. A professional translation company can provide you with localization, which looks at your design and content from the inside out. Multimedia components, graphics, banners – everything is culturally adapted to your target audience to make your company’s content regionally and culturally appropriate. Think of it this way – a freelance translator can overcome the language barriers, but a professional translation company can seamlessly bridge your business to the target culture.

2. It doubles as a marketing tool.

Localizing and translating your company’s content for global consumption is already a necessity, but having a professional translation company take care of your needs doubles as a marketing tool. Not only does a professional translation company have the knowledge and expertise in targeting your intended market, but they know the culture, they know the technology, and they have worked with similar businesses. You don’t have to worry that your newly translated content is going to fall short in another country; with a professional translation company, it will look like it was always meant to be globalized.

3. A professional translation company can globalize your brand with confidence.

Translating your content into Arabic or simplified Chinese will give your business a professional, global appearance, but a professional translation company does more than that. It gives your brand confidence, which can boost your revenue immensely. Your global consumers will feel safe and comfortable with your business as your products and services have been localized for their culture. When consumers are happy and feel wanted by a company, they are more willing to work with you and use your services. A survey conducted by Common Sense Advisory found that businesses that translated information to communicate and keep up with their consumer growth were 2.67 times more likely to experience revenue increases. A multilingual website is one way to achieve this.

4. They are cost-efficient and consistent.

Consistency is key when translating and localizing your products and services. With a professional translation company, the translators are native speakers of each target language and, since they are located in-country, maintain awareness of any changes in the culture and language, in addition to keeping the same tone and voice throughout all of your translated content. A professional translation company will also work with translation memory (TM) tools, featuring linguistic databases that leverage words and keep your translation costs down, give you a shorter turn-around time, and maintain consistency. You also have a lower margin for errors when you partner with a professional translation company and benefit from the technology they utilize.

5. They cover all aspects of your company.

Translating and localizing your products and services goes beyond website copy. Using a professional translation company means everything from your business’s mobile apps to online help is covered. You don’t have to go back and forth between different freelancers to make your entire platform ready for a new language, and if you’re looking to translate and localize for more than one language, you don’t have to start the search for linguistic resources all over again.

The quality you’ll receive when you work with a professional translation company is unsurpassed. Don’t think of it as outsourcing work, but as if you’re joining a team that only wants to provide you with the localization and translation expertise you need to break into the global market with confidence and success.

The post Why Partner with a Pro? 5 Benefits of Working with a Professional Translation Company appeared first on Interpro Translation Solutions.

Language service providers, like most everything else, come in a variety of sizes, shapes, and flavors, each bringing something different to the table. What you need to determine is if you are better off working with a large, enterprise-level organization, or if your needs are better suited to working with a smaller agency. And maybe you don’t want to work with a company at all, preferring to deal directly with individuals such as freelance translation resources. Which route you eventually decide to take depends on a number of criteria, some of the most important of which we will explore here.

Does size matter?

Let’s try to categorize your options in terms of structure.

Freelance Translator: A freelance translator is someone who works independently. Freelance resources may work in pairs: one who translates and one who edits and proofreads.

Single-Language Vendor (SLV): An SLV is usually set up as a company, offering a wide range of translation services into one language. Services offered may include:

• translation, editing, proofreading, and QA
• file preparation and engineering
• project management
• desktop publishing

Multiple-Language Vendor (MLV): An MLV is usually set up as a company, offering a wide range of translation services into multiple languages, enabling its clients to concentrate all of their translation requests with one vendor, regardless of language. Services offered would include:

• translation, editing, proofreading, and QA
• file preparation and engineering
• project management
• desktop publishing

SLVs and MLVs vary in terms of size, and revenue is not the only indicator of how big a company is. For example, many of the larger companies provide products and/or miscellaneous IT consulting in addition to translation services,  all of which usually get added to their total revenue number. A much more effective gauge of how large an LSP is will relate to production:

1. What is the annual volume of words translated in “x” number of languages?
2. How many total projects did the company cycle through in one year?

Benefits of working with a small-scale language service provider

Generally speaking, you will experience a more personal approach when working with a small company. You are more likely to receive personal attention with a small language service provider than with a language service provider that has thousands of active clients. A smaller company may be more flexible and will more easily plug into your existing workflow as an extension of your team.

Here are five points to seriously consider when determining which type of language service provider is best for your business.

1. Comfort level

What you feel comfortable with is a huge factor in who you decide to work with. A one-on-one working relationship with a dedicated freelance translator is akin to having your own personal shopper. On the other hand, you may feel better served by a larger organization with multiple resources. Either way, don’t discount “comfort level” when looking for your long-term solution.

2. Technical capabilities

One of the most critical factors in deciding who you would like to work with depends in large part on what you are translating. For example, the content you need to translate from English to Spanish may be contained within:

• your software’s user interface
• an eLearning course
• a section of your website
• your product’s help system
• your product’s packaging
• user documentation

You should make sure your language service provider has experience in translating a wide variety of content located within multiple types of platforms. For example, if your documentation is authored in Adobe InDesign, it would be useful for you to know that very few freelance translators work directly in InDesign.

3. Subject Matter Experts (SMEs)

If your company is very specialized in one defined area (i.e., nuclear medicine), you may want to select a language service provider that only translates nuclear medicine-specific content. There are freelance SMEs that focus on very well defined areas. There are also single language service providers and multiple language service providers that have one or two specific concentrations.

Most MLVs will have SMEs in a multitude of subject areas, so if your organization has translation needs spanning multiple disciplines, it would most likely benefit you to work with an MLV.

4. Linguistic (and other) capabilities

How many languages do you need to make your content available in? If English to Spanish is your only requirement, the freelance translator option or an SLV can work. However, if you also need Dutch, Hindi, Japanese, Brazilian Portuguese, and Canadian French versions of your content, you are probably going to want to work with an MLV. An MLV will have linguistic resources you need, including project managers, desktop publishing specialists, and a technically oriented staff to assist you.

An advantage to working with a language service provider that has multiple capabilities is that you will usually have only one or two points of contact to manage a wide span of projects, languages, and tasks.

Think about the logistics involved in a 12-language technical documentation translation project that also requires multilingual desktop publishing (DTP) and includes graphics localization.

If you were to work with SLVs or freelancers, you would be managing 12 separate translation, editing, proofreading, multilingual DTP, and quality assurance (QA) projects, working with 12 separate sets of linguistic resources. The exact total number of resources you end up working with will most likely depend on your delivery requirements. Conversely, when working with an MLV, you would work with one account executive (to manage the quotation process), and one project manager (who would manage everything else).

5. Cost of language service providers

When selecting a language service provider, it is important to understand that freelance resources may be the most economically advantageous for you and offer flexible payment solutions. A freelance translator will most likely provide multiple rounds of changes at no additional charge.

Language service providers who specialize in one specific area will be on the higher end of the pay scale, since they are a rare animal, have less competition, and are perceived as industry experts in their chosen field.

Pricing with SLVs is generally considered “middle of the road.” Since they concentrate on one specific language pair, they achieve economies of scale.

When working with MLVs (brick and mortar companies with salaried employees, overhead, equipment, etc.), the price ranges can vary. If you have large volumes of content to be translated in multiple languages, you will find that MLVs, regardless of size, will do whatever they can to work within your budget constraints. Very often they will provide services for one language at cost or even at a slight loss, knowing that they can make up the difference on one or more of the other languages being contracted for.

Commonly, it will be more expensive to work with an MLV than with an SLV or freelance translator, as MLVs will have more fixed costs and overhead than the other two options.

Finally, don’t forget the old saying “you get what you pay for” still holds true as much as today as it always has.

Conclusion

Whether you end up working with a large organization or with a small to mid-size agency will depend on a variety of factors, some of which have been covered in this article.

Working with a small to mid-size language service provider may work nicely since you will likely be receiving more personal attention. Or, you may put bigger stock in working with a large language service provider that has coverage in multiple geographies. Whatever your situation, there is a range of options to choose from. Spend the time to figure out what your needs are, add to that your comfort level concerning how you like to work and with whom, then take into consideration any budgetary constraints you may have. If you do this, you have a good chance of selecting the right language service provider to partner with.

The post Finding the Perfect Match: 5 Key Considerations for Choosing a Language Service Provider appeared first on Interpro Translation Solutions.