Practical guidance for buying language services.

Requesting translation often begins with a short enquiry and a longer list of questions in reply. This is not necessarily delay: important pricing and process decisions are rarely visible in the source file alone. A supplier who knows the market, purpose, format and deadline can quote a defined deliverable.

The target market, not only the language

“Into Spanish” does not identify Spain, Mexico or another market. Arabic may require Modern Standard Arabic or a market-specific variety, and English requires a UK or US decision. State the target country, region or audience.

What the content needs to achieve

Internal reference material may suit post-edited machine translation. Customer-facing product content may require greater stylistic work, while a campaign line may require creative adaptation. Describe the audience, channel and intended action.

The real volume, files and deadline

Page counts are unreliable. Repetitions, non-editable PDFs, tags, layout and subtitle timing affect both cost and schedule. Where security permits, share the actual files through the approved route. If an NDA is required first, make contact without attaching material. Give the real delivery date, time zone and any client-review time.

File format, references and continuity

State what you have and what you need back. Share glossaries, style guides, approved translations and tone references. For recurring work, ask how continuity, terminology governance and translation memories will be handled.

What a useful quotation should show

• Price, schedule and main assumptions
• Language, market and delivery format
• Included translation, revision, LQA or post-editing steps
• Any proposed technology or third-party processing
• Client inputs, exclusions and separately quoted work

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Machine translation varies by language pair, subject, source quality and system. The same engine can be useful for repetitive support content and unsuitable for a campaign headline, contract or patient instruction. The decision belongs in project scoping.

What post-editing means

Light post-editing targets accurate, comprehensible text with limited stylistic polishing. Full post-editing addresses meaning, terminology, style, register and readability to the agreed publication standard. If poor output removes the expected efficiency, the workflow should change.

Where MT can create value

• High-volume support, knowledge-base or internal information
• Repetitive content supported by controlled terminology
• Short-life material where full human translation is disproportionate
• Language pairs and subject areas where a real sample is usable

Where a different approach is safer

Marketing and brand work depends on voice and effect. Legal and regulated content needs subject expertise. Localex does not use MT for clinical, patient-safety or regulatory-submission content. Financial and culturally sensitive content also need risk-specific scoping.

Common failure modes to test

• Omitted or added meaning, including negation and conditions
• Confident but incorrect terminology
• Changed numbers, dates, units, currencies or names
• Damaged tags, placeholders, variables or subtitle constraints
• Wrong tone, register or unsupported resolution of ambiguity

Data and confidentiality

Ask which engine processes the content, where data travels, whether it is retained or used for training, who reviews output and what happens if the sample fails. Ask who controls the platform: on partner-managed projects the engine and its data terms belong to that environment, so establish which applies before work starts.

Related: AI/MT Post-Editing & LQA · Industries

Translation

Translation transfers meaning accurately and naturally. Sentence structure and expression change, but the source message remains the controlling reference. The quotation should state the market and any revision, terminology or formatting work.

Localisation

Localisation adds market and product context: dates, currency, units, addresses, examples, interface length, encoding or right-to-left behaviour where scoped. Engineering, testing and design are separate unless the quotation includes them.

Transcreation

Transcreation starts from the intended response and creative brief. Target copy may use substantially different wording to create an equivalent effect. It is priced separately and remains one of Localex’s five service families.

Choosing the right scope

1. Must source meaning and structure remain closely controlled?
2. Which market conventions or product behaviours need adaptation?
3. Is emotional or commercial effect more important than preserving the words?

Many projects combine approaches: localisation for an interface, translation for documentation and transcreation for campaign lines. Each component should be identified so buyers can compare like with like.

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