I'm curious what services do you/your companies use for human translations of your app/website/videos, etc? Machine translations from Google Translate are only so-so at best. Do y'all use a third party service for the translations. If so, which one(s)?
Considering poking around Fiver and maybe Upwork, but was wondering if there's any startups/companies that offer human translations as a service?
Thanks!
What I am really interested in investigating is what is the minimal subset of words or concepts that makes a website or service useful. Is it 10,000? Or closer to 500. Because if is the latter, localization by standardizing the interface around these usability 'primitives' common to every culture would make the translation process very fast.
Essentially localization becomes a kind of "growth hack" itself. Having English, Spanish, Russian, Mandarin, Hindi / Urdu, etc. Covers a vast swath of humanity. But the marginal addition of say, Polish or Dutch, can result in an unexpected boost!
It reminds me of an editor that was submitted once in Show HN, that only lets you type the most common 1000 words[1].
Some things to look for: Across multiple transactions with these [edit: localization] companies, they end up building a database of phrases, of which some companies might try to claim ownership over. Watch out for that when negotiating.
You're also most likely going to pay per word, so if you can figure out a good way to not send them sentences you've already had translated you can save some money.
Its also good to spot check some of the translations. These companies will basically post out the requirements and get freelance translators to do the job (in other words, they're managing all the UpWork work for you so you don't have to). We once caught a translator (NOT of the above-mentioned companies) located somewhere in Europe inserting some choice political statements about a specific biotech/GMO company we had as a client.
(editted for clarity - below the first Paragraph is general knowledge of the industry, not specific to the two aforementioned vendors)
That's why they build those databases of phrases you were referring to, since they apply discounts on matches against those DBs and on repetitions in your document.
Instead, ask explicitly for a Translation Memory file at the end of the job, so that you can retain your personal piece of database of phrases that was produced during the localization of your file (it's your right to have it and serious companies will hand it without fuss).
The typical process would be to send them the translated sentences in Trados or tmx format (translation memory) and ask for a discount for 100% matches (you may even be able to discounts for "fuzzy", or <100%, matches). These discounts are often referred to as "Trados" discounts. That said, not all agencies/translators offer such discounts.
> We once caught a translator (NOT of the above-mentioned companies) located somewhere in Europe inserting some choice political statements about a specific biotech/GMO company we had as a client.
What happened then? This stunt would be a grave offense for a professional translator. A certified/sworn translator would probably lose their certification for it. I'm guessing your translator was a cut-rate freelancer doing this work on the side with little connection to the professional translator community, which generally prides itself on its professionalism.
Also, no reputable translation agency that I know of gets their translators for UpWork. They either find them through word of mouth, translator associations, or sometimes translator communities like proz.com. They don't typically "post" jobs, rather they have a list of vetted translators who have signed their confidentiality and other contracts, and whom they then email individually to ask if they're interested in job X (usually attaching the job). And the more reputable ones have their own certification process or else only work with translators certified by a reputable body (ATA, ITI, etc.). Most reputable translation agencies will also have a second translator edit or proofread the document once it's been translated.
At my current big client, for resource keys, we use google translate, and then our resident polyglot will ensure they read over correctly. This works well for simple things like "Phone Number," "Job Title," and "Please enter your full name."
When we have documentation or manuals to translate, we have to hire out to a firm who takes the American English documents and translates it to which ever language we need. But that is controlled by the Head Office in Italy, so I have no insight into who they are using.
In either way, I wish a better service existed.
We also have github support. Check in a yaml file in github, and we'll automatically translate the changes in the target languages you choose. When we're done, we create a pull request.
GLOBO is a Philadelpha-based on-demand language services provider, and localization and document translation are some of the services that we offer. What you're looking for is our bread and butter and I'd be happy to put you in touch with our account managers who know more about that side of the business.
Full disclosure: I head the analytics team at GLOBO
Based on customer feedback (https://locize.com/customers.html) for sure worth a try (even more having a 14d free - with zero obligations.
Alternatively, if you want human translation as a service, there are companies like gengo.com or unbabel.com.
But I strongly recommend against Upwork or Fiver. You can find some qualified translators on those sites, but you're much more likely to find someone who really doesn't know what they're doing. There are some of the same in the translator communities and associations, but if you're judicious about your search criteria, you're much less likely to end up with such a translator.
www.applanga.com
Also, if you ever meet the CEO, ask him about Gengo-Chan. :)
Selecting the right service/agency for translation is primarily related to what content (and what degree of accuracy) you need. Translating content for a website advertising a medical device is very different than translating social media content.
For content that HAS to be correct, I've used www.languagescientific.com
http://www.ititranslates.com/what-we-do/translation/document...
They have an API for sending text and receiving translations in XLIFF format.
They handle almost all translation formats and have a decent API.