Main features of a professional translation company

According to the magazine Décideurs, the professional translation market was estimated to be worth 45 billion dollars in 2020.  This amount of money is spread between more than 10,000 translation agencies worldwide.

If you need a professional translation, hiring a translation agency can have many advantages over a freelance translator.

What guarantees must a professional translation company offer to ensure that the translations are trustworthy?

We have compiled a list of the main features of professional translation companies.

1. Requirements for a professional translation company

Ideally, the translation agency should have years of experience in delivering language services and fulfil the following points:

• A business philosophy with a strong commitment to customers;
• The translation company must keep the received data confidential (discretion is the key word in the field of professional translation);
• Translation offers and general prices should be transparent and in line with market prices;
• The translation company needs to interact with the client to provide answers or ask questions, if required.

2. Characteristics of the translators working for an agency

Those who work in a translation company must also meet some requirements in order to provide high quality outcomes:

• Translators have to be very responsible, careful and precise, as they often deal with legal documents. For example, crimial records or court decisions;
• The translators must be native speakers of the language into which they translate. Or they are one hundred percent bilingual;
• For specialised translations, translators must have the appropriate training and be familiar with the specific terminology. This makes them qualified technical translators, as they are specialised in a particular field;
• Translators must be able to work in a team, help each other and be able to communicate;
• Their work pace must be fast enough to meet client deadlines.

3. Certifications for professional translation companies

A professional translation agency that has official certifications meets certain standards. Therefore, certifications are a good benchmark not only to grade translation companies, but also any other type of company.

Our translation agency AbroadLink Translations received ISO-9001 certification in 2013. This certifies a recognised quality project management and very customer-oriented services. In addition, it assures management commitment and the will for continuous improvement.

Our company also has a special certification for translation agencies (ISO 17100, which replaced UNE-EN 15038:2006).

4. Professional translation equals know-how and flexibility

Translation is not simply translating words, but also translating meanings. In order to achieve a high-quality translation, you must be able to "feel" the texts. Then you have to accurately translate these texts in a specific way so that they correspond to the target culture. 

That’s why the employees of reputable translation agencies are known as inquisitive minds. They are constantly on the lookout for new information and do not hesitate to get it when needed. Years of experience and a wide range of successfully delivered work are the essential pillars of a professional translation company.

A good translation company should always strive to meet the needs of its clients. To do this, it has to be flexible, understand the needs and respect customers's decisions. Even if some of them sometimes seem questionable.

A good reputation is the most important feature of a professional translation company. The best way to find out the professional value of a company, is to consult the informed opinions of former clients. The more satisfied customers a company has, the more trustworthy it is.