Translation buyer’s checklist - how to brief your translator

You’ve found a professional translator that you want to work with. Congratulations! But before you rush to get your documents translated and start discussing deadlines and costs, take some time to prepare any useful reference materials you can give your translator and to think about how you are going to brief them. Briefing your translator well will help to ensure that you get the best possible quality translation that is ideally suited for its intended purpose. Here’s a short checklist to help you to do this.

• What is the text to be used for?

For example: for internal information only, in a glossy printed brochure, on a website, in a newsletter, etc. If you tell the translator where the text will be used, you can be sure that they will use the right register for this purpose.

• Is your text for a specific market?

There are often regional variants of a language, e.g. UK English and U.S. English, French and Canadian French, German and Swiss German. If your text is aimed at a specific market, such as the UK, make sure that the translator is aware of this. Likewise, if your text is aimed at an international market, e.g. it is to be translated into English but is not necessarily aimed exclusively at English native speakers, make sure that you let the translator know.

• What background information can you provide?

If the text is for a newsletter that refers customers to products in your online shop, for example, can you provide links to the relevant webpages or images of the products? If the text is a letter in response to another letter, can you provide a copy of that letter? Naturally, this will not always be possible due to company policy or for confidentiality reasons. But if you can provide this kind of background information, it can really help to ensure consistency and accuracy.

• What terminology resources do you have?

What glossaries, terminology databases, translation memories, company style guides, etc. are available? For more information on terminology resources, please see Consistent branding in translation - advice for translation buyers.

• Who is going to be the contact for any queries relating to the text?

Are you happy to be contacted by the translator if they have any queries about the text? If you did not write the text, will you be able to forward any queries to the person who did or is there someone who is more familiar with the text that the translator could contact directly? Be sure to give the translator the name of at least one contact person and several ways of contacting them, e.g. a direct line telephone number and an e-mail address.

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Tagged as: advice for translation buyers, Buying translations, translation advice, translation checklist, translator briefing