Tips on Reducing English Chinese Translation Costs

When talking about English Chinese translation projects, most people would agree high-quality translations at competitive prices are the paramount objective. Hence, the problem comes as how can you lower your English Chinese translation costs yet not lower the quality. These are several tips shared by Top Chinese Translator for your information on lowering translation costs:

Price comparison when choosing English Chinese translation agency

Before settling on an English Chinese translation agency, it is better for you to shop around so as to make a price comparison. With this comparison, you have more options and you can also know how to bargain with your translation partner since you are familiar with the whole translation market.

With your research on the average English Chinese translation costs, you will then find that some translation companies that offer the so-called bargain prices are sometimes very likely to offer a lower-quality service. They will probably to assign less professional English Chinese translators for your translation projects. As a result, you may spend more if you want to get the badly translated documents fixed.

We all know that freelance English Chinese translators are much cheaper than translation agencies. But the problem is not all projects can be handled by freelancers. Therefore, if your English Chinese translation project is relatively small-scaled, you can then choose freelance English Chinese translators rather than translation agencies for the reason of lowering English Chinese translation costs. But if you are looking for a long-term English Chinese translation partner, then professional agencies like Top Chinese Translator are definitely better choice.

Reducing quantity not quality of the English-Chinese translation project

Another way for you to reduce the English Chinese translation costs is reduce the quantity – instead of quality - of your original file. Start with the end in mind. Take translation into consideration when you are writing the original content. Keep your content as concise as possible. Eliminate unnecessary words and keep sentences short, but always ensure that the message is correctly conveyed. Avoid idiomatic phrases that have no meaning in the target culture or language.

Take a second check on the file before sending it to your English Chinese translation partner and see whether there are any parts can be left out or condensed. For example, if the original file is an instruction manual, some of the texts may be replaced by diagrams and illustrations with fewer words to be translated.

Using translation memories for the English Chinese translation projects

With the use of a Translation Memory, the English Chinese translators can start working on the project before it has been officially approved at your company. The translation memory, or TM, can store segments, such as sentences, paragraphs or sentence-like units that have previously been translated. On the one hand, it can aid human English Chinese translators. On the other hand, a TM can considerably reduce the delivery time and costs, since you can ask the translators to begin the work even if the original document is still in draft stage. That way, the English Chinese translators can do the translation work in a less demanding pace. The translation costs are accordingly reduced.

In addition, budget for your English Chinese translation in advance, so that you can avoid surcharges for rush turnaround timing. Most English Chinese translation agencies would offer a discount for larger projects, so you can combine several small projects into a larger one to get the discount. Anyway, try your best to avoid extra charges.

So those are all the tips Top Chinese Translator shared for reducing your English Chinese translation costs. If you want to discuss more on this, or you are looking for a English Chinese translation agency at a competitive price, please feel free to contact us at topchinesetranslators@gmail.com