How to find the best interpreter or translator for your needs

When you travel abroad or just need your document translated into any foreign language, you will need to find a translator or interpreter that will professionally perform language related tasks for you. Everyday thousands of translators and interpreters do their jobs worldwide and it is often easy to get lost while searching for the right language service provider.

There are several criteria to be considered while making a decision.

Define your language needs

There might be many reasons that lead to the need of booking professional interpreter or a translator such as Capital Linguists:

• Your non-English speaking business partner is visiting you,
• A conference or a training course abroad you are going to attend,
• An exhibition where you have your boost that will be attended by foreign visitors,
• A medical examination in a foregin hospital,
• A factory audit to be performed at your premises by an international auditors,
• Submission of your official documents to foreign government authorities directly or through an embassy or consulate.

Whether you are an individual or a company, it is obvious that everyone may need to have their documents translated or a meeting interpreted one day.

Experience is the key for a high quality translation or interpreting

Interpreters and translators convert information from one language into another language. To accomplish this task professionally, experience is needed. There are many platforms around there that offer a great selection of language experts. While selecting the right vendor, pay attention to the background of the translator. Most of the professional translators will have at least 5 years of experience. Ask for CV and the portfolio to make sure you are booking the service from the right person.

How much does it cost to hire an interpreter or a translator ?

The cost for interpreting and translation depends on many different factors, from the language pair, the complexity of the text, volume and deadlines. If you are looking for a document translation, though, you should expect around $35-$50 for a simple one-page document, and as high as $600 for the annual report translation that consists of 15 pages.

The price of a certified translation is very much affected by a language pair you are looking for. For the most common language paris, like English/Spanish or English/Russian there will be a minimum price as many professional vendors are available and the competition makes sure that they sell their services at a fair market price. However, if you are looking for rare combinations like Japanese/Hindi or Vietnamese/Russian the price will be somewhat higher.

If your text is highly technical or involves specific medical terminology, only fewer professional translators are available to perform that kind of translations. Taking this into consideration, you can  expect prices at the higher end of the spectrum.

Other factors that affect translation and interpreting cost is the volume of work you expect to give the language experts. For a higher number of words there will be a discounted price as the translator does not have to look for other customers and can dedicate his or her time to your project.

Now that you have a better understanding of the various factors that go into a consumer’s decision to have their documents professionally translated, you’re probably wondering how to budget interpreting services. Well, it is pretty much the same. Decisive factors that affect the price for interpreting services are location, language pair, complexity and the volume of the job.

Mistakes to avoid while finding a good language expert

Interpreting and translation are complex tasks and require experienced experts.

Event organizers often underestimate the tasks simply because they are not aware how to plan a budget for their conferences or webinars. We had cases where companies planned their budget only for a single interpreter for a large conference, where they actually needed 4 interpreters. Conference interpreting is always performed by two interpreters per language pair. So if you have three language pairs, you would need  interpreters.

Most of the time you will also need to share the presentations well in advance so that the interpreters can get prepared for their events. While planning your event, make sure you understand the basics of how the conference interpreting works or consult the experts for consultancy.

Translation of a highly complex technical or medical documentation requires professional skills and the task is to be followed by proofreading from a native speaker. If you seek a high quality translation, it takes time to accomplish. On average one translator can translate about 800 words of highly specialized text per day. So plan well in advance and define your deadlines accordingly by accounting human factors, weekends and holidays.

What are the reliable sources to find the interpreter and translator?

When consumers purchase the interpreting or translation services from Lingohaus, they can be assured that all Lingohaus language experts follow the strictest localization and translation guidelines and  procedures.

We’ve upped our precautionary measures to ensure that all of our language experts are well educated and experienced. All translations are performed in a timely manner and followed by a proofreading.

Of course, you can check alternative sources like babr.one or interpreters.travel. Both of them are reliable sources to find good translation experts worldwide.