White Paper: Planning Your Translation Project: Crafting the perfect RFPs or RFIs to put translation providers on a level playing field (cont.)

Writing your RFP/RFI

After you have identified the content or material that needs translation and the languages required, the next steps in writing your RFP/RFI include:

1. Identifying a rough timeline and a budget. Using the costs and time involved to create your English version can be a good starting point. Although it may seem more logical to expect a budget and schedule as part of the RFI/RFP response, translation can be a complex process and many factors are taken into consideration when developing a solution. Not every translation agency will construct the same project workflow or assume the same service offerings, and as a result, your responses may vary considerably. Being able to put schedule and financial boundaries around your project will help guide most projects along similar lines.
2. Describing your motivations for translation. Far from being a one-size-fits-all type of resource, most translators have individual specialties and experience with certain topics, and your translation agency will select the best possible resources for your content type. Knowing your intended audience and purpose will help focus the search for the right resource, or weed out resources that are obviously not suitable.
3. Explaining your in-house capabilities and how best to work with you. Many translation agencies offer a range of services related to your translated project, including desktop publishing, software testing, and website maintenance, among others. Some can provide low-touch, automated or quasi-automated solutions as well. Explain the level of partnership you are looking for and ask if your potential provider can offer any related services, or outline what services you can provide that are not needed.
4. Mentioning previous translation experiences, if applicable. If you have previously translated content that you are pleased with, many agencies can work with you to leverage existing content into the proposed workflow to ensure consistency of voice and terminology. Likewise, if previous translation attempts did not go as well as they could have, explain what happened and why.
5. Being specific about your needs and avoiding general, open-ended questions. As you will see below, translation agencies have many different resources at their disposal and will be actively involved in tailoring their capabilities to meet your requirements. In order to avoid wasting time with information you do not need, ask specific questions related to your project instead of relying on freeform answers to provide more information.

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