Considerations and Preparations

Things to consider and prepare before placing an order / creating a translation request

Tips for Preparing Content

In the initial stages of content preparation, it's crucial to align your translation goals with a well-defined strategy.

Begin by assessing your objectives and identifying your target audience.

For instance, if you're a global e-commerce platform, your goal might be to expand product visibility to an international audience. Clearly outline which content holds relevance for your foreign audience and determine the necessary quality standards. If your content includes both technical specifications and user guides, you might prioritise a higher quality level for technical content to ensure accuracy.

With this foundation, you can then move on to selecting the appropriate target region and languages.

For instance, if you're targeting the European market, consider languages like English, French, and German based on geographic relevance (e.g. German for Germany vs German for Switzerland). Once these aspects are defined, the next step involves the thoughtful selection and preparation of your content for translation.

This includes the development of a comprehensive Style Guide, which provides essential information to the translator regarding your text, audience, style, and preferences. For example, if your brand is known for a friendly and informal tone, specify this in the Style Guide.

Additionally, employing a Glossary helps ensure consistency, especially for specific terminology. If your industry has unique jargon or product names, a Glossary becomes invaluable.

In other words:

Assess Your Goals

Define Objectives: Clearly articulate the goals you aim to achieve through the translation process, e.g., expanding market reach or providing multilingual support.
Identify Audience: Pinpoint your target audience, such as international customers or potential buyers.
Quality Standards: Consider the level of quality required, especially for different types of content like technical specifications or user guides.

Choose Your Target Region & Languages

Geographic Considerations:
- Determine the specific country/countries you intend to target, tailoring your approach accordingly.
- Identify the predominant languages spoken in your target region to effectively connect with your audience.
Locale Relevance:
- Select locales based on language nuances, considering factors like regional spellings and cultural preferences.

Select and Prepare Your Content

In the content selection and preparation phase, the focus is on optimizing the translation process for accuracy and efficiency. Providing a detailed Style Guide is paramount. This document offers crucial insights into your audience, writing style, formality, and the overall purpose of your content. For example, if your target audience includes both consumers and professionals, the Style Guide can guide the translator in adapting the tone accordingly.

The Glossary, another valuable tool, allows you to predetermine translations for specific terms, ensuring consistency across your material. For instance, if your product names are trademarked, including them in the Glossary ensures accurate translation.

Style Guide:

Offer translators comprehensive guidance on the tone, style, and purpose of your content, providing examples if necessary.
For more details and further exploration of the Style Guides, you can read the articles in the Style Guide section here: https://client-support.tolq.com/en/article/style-guides and https://client-support.tolq.com/en/article/creating-a-style-guide.

Glossary:

Establish a glossary to maintain consistency, particularly for industry-specific terminology.
For more details and further exploration of the Glossaries' function, you can read the articles in the Glossaries section here: https://client-support.tolq.com/en/article/glossaries-overview and https://client-support.tolq.com/en/article/creating-glossaries-and-how-to-manage-them.

Order Grouping:

Group related texts for better contextual understanding and improved translation quality.
If you have a series of related content, consider grouping them for coherence.
For example:
- Let's say you have a new collection of products that will launch or release soon, and you're also writing blogs for your website for this launch. Your product descriptions will most likely have very different translation needs than your blogpost articles.
- Each can also benefit from different Style Guides as the tone, target audience and purpose of the texts could be very different.
- We recommend to order your blog posts in a separate order from your products (items and descriptions).

Optimise Quality and Budget

Once the content is selected and prepared, the focus shifts to optimizing both quality and budget considerations. Recognize that different parts of your website may require varying quality levels for translation.

For example, allocate higher quality levels for critical marketing texts like promotional campaigns. A judicious allocation of resources ensures that you're spending wisely based on content needs.

Consider Different Quality Levels:

Tailor quality levels to suit different components of your website or e-commerce system, providing examples of varying content types.
Explore the Pricing and Quality section for a comprehensive overview. For example, understand the quality levels suitable for different types of content through specific examples.
Read more about the different Quality Levels in the article here.

Spend Wisely:

Allocate higher quality levels for critical marketing texts. For example, promotional campaigns might require a higher quality level.
Evaluate lower quality levels for areas like product descriptions to optimize your budget effectively. Consider the nature of the content when deciding on quality levels.

Don't Hesitate to Contact Us for Assistance

In the dynamic landscape of content preparation and translation, uncertainties may arise. If you find yourself in need of guidance or assistance, our support team is readily available and here to assist you.

If you have any inquiries or require support, don't hesitate to contact us at support@tolq.com or reach out to your Tolq account manager or sales representative..