After an article on best practices for your translation project management, let’s talk about the solutions that can take you further. Once your strategy has been fine-tuned and your content adapted to each market, it’s time to select a solution and partners to produce and deploy your international content.
The Language Service Provider as your Deployment Partner
Needless to say, embarking on an international roll-out project is no mean feat. Between the strategy to put in place and the endless list of things to do when managing translation projects, it can quickly become a time-consuming project. It’s important to surround yourself with the best possible partners. A LSP is one of them.
But what is an LSP?
Quite simply, it’s a company offering advanced multilingual services: a Language Service Provider. It enables you to communicate effectively with your international audience across different languages and cultures. These services often include document translation, website and software localization, interpreting, subtitling, multilingual content creation, language project management, multicultural communication consulting, and much more.
For example, if we’re talking about the Datawords group, this is a language services provider that will enable you to perfectly balance global reach and local impact. It’s not always easy to put in place strategies that will achieve both goals. Here’s what Datawords has to offer: copywriting in all languages, translation, localization, transcreation, proofreading, editing, evaluation, post-editing to proofread machine translation, and transcription.
We generally recommend working with a partner who specializes in your industry: not all LSPs will be the same, depending on your content. Use Datawords for premium content in particular!
How to choose a powerful LSP:
Here are the different steps you can take when looking for a language service provider.
First of all, you’ll need to check how qualified translators and freelancers are. If we take the example of a luxury brand wishing to work with Datawords, the choice would be a good one: the company offers an advanced content verification process, and translators who are experts in their field. This means brands can be sure of getting premium quality tailored to their customers.
The second point to check is the overall LSP experience. Is it a service provider that focuses on high-tech markets? Or rather the fashion world? This is a very important point, as it will enable translators to adapt better if the LSP is already dealing with content similar to yours.
Then comes the importance of pricing and adaptability. We strongly advise you to use a language service provider who can adapt to your needs and the quality you’re looking for. Let’s say you have a luxury brand. One of your primary needs is the quality of your content. Your teams write in perfect, polished language. The same applies to your international content.
Following on from the previous two points, testing a small amount of content is a good way to see if LSP is right for you. Some of them offer free tests. However, this may not prove significant as it often involves too little content. If you’re offered a paid test, you’ll have a better chance of seeing whether the quality suits you and your needs.
Finally, if you wish to delegate content creation entirely to an agency, bear in mind that you’re buying content delivered at the quality level you want. The price must reflect this quality of delivery. So focus your attention on ROI: less on your agency’s process, and more on the results.
On the other hand, if you’re involved in the process and in the strategic choices needed to achieve the level of quality you want, take an interest in the process. Test machine translation tools. Test different proofreading processes to see if you need 1, 2, 3 steps. You’ll find optimizations, and you’ll hear from the LSP in complete transparency. It’s also important to be transparent about your invoicing system, and make sure that your data is accurate (use of machine translation, translation memory, time spent on proofreading, etc.).
Choosing the right LSP is therefore essential to the success of your international deployments. We recommend that you choose a service provider that combines multilingual expertise with the ability to adapt to your brand’s specific needs. And of course, don’t overlook the quality of the translators, the experience of the LSP, the flexibility of their prices and the efficiency of their translation management system. It’s a nice segue into our next topic.
Choosing your TMS: What You Need to Know
Once you’ve chosen your partner for your international deployments, it’s time to look at the solutions you’ll be implementing: your future translation management system. A TMS will be your companion for managing and translating your content for international deployments.
What is a Translation Management System (TMS)?
A TMS is a tool specially designed to streamline and optimize the content translation process and its international deployment. It’s a key resource for language service providers (LSPs), companies and individual translators managing multilingual projects.
Let’s take the example where you’d like to launch your luxury e-commerce brand in 3 new countries. Let’s assume that you already have seasoned translators on your teams. You express a strong need for premium quality in your translations, and you need to maintain a consistent tone-of-voice locally.
But how do you do this in your CMS or PIM? These platforms are suitable for your e-commerce publishing needs, but not for content creation. You’ll then need to find software to manage and translate your texts. You’ll be able to use a technology that implements all the tools you need to keep your branded content consistent and locally relevant.
A TMS provides a common workspace for all your teams of translators, freelancers and project managers. The solution uses translation memories, so you don’t have to pay again and again for content that has already been translated. Your keywords are managed using a terminology database to keep your tone-of-voice intact. Interconnection with your CMS, PIM and DAM means you don’t need to import and export, and the platform still makes it easy to translate files.
And for linguists, it’s a collection of tools designed to ensure the efficiency and quality of the content they produce, in every language. In short, it’s a space where quality and quantity go hand in hand, thanks to the use of tools that ensure optimal quality for large volumes of content.
How to choose your TMS:
Here is a list of key elements to check when choosing your translation management system:
When you talk about a lot of content, how many words are you talking about? Hundreds of thousands or millions. Some TMSs are suitable for low volumes, such as Editorial content or a few developer files. Others will enable you to industrialize your content factory. TMSs can often be adapted, but it’s important to bear in mind that a compatible solution will enable you to go further by providing you with the right tools at the right time. Choose a translation management system adapted to your content volumes.
We also advise you to count the number of languages and locales in which you’re looking to expand. Some translation management systems will enable you to manage 2 or 3 markets efficiently, while others will enable you to manage 50 markets simultaneously. In case number 2, the TMS can handle the duplication and modification of content and pages in very similar languages, for example. It’s very important to make sure that you’re working with a tool that meets your international deployment objectives.
When choosing your TMS, you also need to pay attention to how easy it is to exchange content. Is it a platform that integrates easily with your CMS (Content Management System) or PIM (Product Information Management)? Does it allow you to import and export all the file types your teams work on? If you translate your newsletters in Excel files and your product sheets on your PIM, no problem – you’re bound to find a TMS that allows you to translate all this content with ease. Always choose a solution that allows you to translate all your content in just a few clicks. A translation management system that integrates seamlessly with your CMS and/or PIM will be the best solution.
Finally, we recommend that you pay close attention to the number of users you can take on board the TMS. Many solutions will charge you for each new user. It will be much easier to work on a solution that leaves the field wide open in terms of users. Some solutions will even offer you a workspace where everyone knows what to do and how to do it optimally. So choose a platform that gives you a global view of your processes, and welcomes your teams in the best possible way.
There are, of course, a number of translation management software packages (TMS) available, such as Wezen, Smartcat, XTM or Lokalise. Each has its advantages and disadvantages, so it’s up to you to find the one that suits you best.
The solution for your international deployments: Wezen x Datawords
As you can see, this is not a battle between language service providers and translation management software, but rather a complementary relationship. Imagine benefiting from the symbiosis between a team of translators and experienced project managers (LSPs) working on a high-performance TMS adapted to get things done faster.
You’ll simply have access to:
The right combination of human and technological expertise:
Let’s take the example of your luxury e-commerce brand. You always need top quality for global as well as local efficiency. By combining the two solutions, Wezen (TMS) and Datawords (LSP), you’ll be working with expert linguists and high-performance technology. So you can ensure that your brand is locally adapted while shining globally, thanks to a synergy tailored to your needs.
Consistency and high quality:
By combining translators accustomed to offering the best quality in your industry, with software that gives you real consistency across all your content, you find the combination to achieve your goals. Our work, and that of Datawords, guarantees consistent translations thanks to the use of translation memories, a platform for industrializing your content and glossaries. Quality is also enhanced by built-in checks and controls at every stage of the translation process, both in the TMS and by the translators themselves. You tick all the boxes, from locally adapted SEO to content tailored to your markets’ prerequisites.
An optimized solution for your projects:
By combining the two skills, you’ll be working with teams familiar with our Wezen tool. They are ready to adapt their work to your needs and objectives. Suppose you need two source languages and your teams translate the first into two languages and the second into another? No problem, the teams adapt both in terms of quality and process. They know the basics of our TMS.
Follow-up and complete transparency:
By using a solution like Wezen and Datawords, you can be sure of knowing what’s going on when you want it. The Wezen platform will give you a global view of what’s going on with your translations, who’s working on which project, when your content will be available, and even what content is repeated or not. You’ll have access to a page giving you maximum information on the number of words translated, your translated languages and a visual of your license. And you can talk to Datawords teams who know their markets inside out. So you know exactly which keywords to use and when to launch your marketing campaigns.
Finally, for an e-commerce brand like yours looking to expand internationally, the choice of a symbiosis between an LSP (Language Service Provider) and an efficient TMS is crucial. This synergy ensures high-quality translations, adapted to the cultural and linguistic specificities of each of your markets. With experts in translation, project management and a high-performance TMS, your brand can benefit from consistent communication and a relevant local presence, while optimizing costs and deployment times. We’ll give you access to customization, flexibility, and seamless management of translation projects to maintain global quality and efficiency. This will ensure respect for local particularities, guaranteeing the success of your international deployments.