Congrats - you’ve decided to take your content and product global! You plan to expand to diverse, multilingual, and multicultural markets around the globe and, in doing so, grow your revenue. You are well aware of the need to localize to achieve this goal. Rather than managing everything in-house, you have engaged or you are evaluating language service providers (LSPs) to find the right translation, localization, testing, and engineering partner. Naturally, you’ll want to make the very most of those relationships so you can see ROI and meet your goals for expansion.

By far, the most effective way to maximize the value of a Language Service Provider’s services is to treat them as true partners, not just vendors. Involve them in your planning and processes and take full advantage of their professional expertise in bringing products to new markets and overcoming cultural and language barriers.

How do you make this happen? Here are seven steps to take to build that partnership - whether with a new vendor or one that you’re already working with.

1. Assess your scope and language requirements

Whether you’re looking for translation, localization, testing, or a mix of these services, it’s important to define your needs from the start. Based on your target markets, think about which target languages make the most sense. If you need help determining where to start when choosing languages and regions, a language service provider can help point you in the right direction.

You’ll also want to choose the right services for your content type. For example, if you’re working on documentation, you’ll likely need translation, desktop publishing, and maybe language quality assurance. For marketing content, transcreation is vital to adapting your message for different cultures. And if you’re dealing with software or websites, you’ll probably need localization, linguistic, and/or functional testing, and possibly internationalization to ensure everything works smoothly across languages.

2. Select the right Language Service Provider

If you don’t already have a services provider, it’s now time to find the right one. (If you do have one, you can use the below to evaluate whether or not they are providing you with what you need) You’ll want to consider a few factors:

• Subject matter expertise: In-depth knowledge of your industry means they’ll understand the terminology and cultural nuances necessary for compliant, high-quality, accurate work.
• Range of services: It’s ideal to have one team handling everything you need, including translation and localization services, testing, and/or content adaptation. This ensures the parts fit into the whole and all services work in tandem to give you the best outcomes.
• Technological capabilities: Choose an LSP experienced with using, integrating, and customizing various translation management systems (TMS), computer-assisted translation (CAT) tools, and AI-driven solutions to drive cost and schedule efficiency. They should also be able to integrate with software you already use and resolve complex workflow challenges.
• Quality assurance processes: While tools can offer efficiency and accuracy, it’s crucial that the language service provider also has a thorough revision process with professional linguists and native speakers to make sure translations are technically correct and culturally appropriate.
• Language and region coverage: Look for language service providers that cover the languages and dialects critical to your business.
• Credentials and reviews: Check their certifications, read client testimonials, and review their case studies to assess their ability to meet your needs.
• Customer service model: Find an LSP that can provide dedicated account and project managers. It may be a game-changer as you expand your business and need to cover more languages.

Once you’ve narrowed your research down to a handful of candidates based on desk research and recommendations from peers, you can send them a request for proposal (RFP). This step will help you get detailed responses and make choosing the right translation company easier.

3. Build a collaborative partnership with your LSP

There are three key elements that are essential to creating an effective partnership with a language service provider.

Open and clear communication

Direct communication helps both parties stay on the same page regarding goals, timelines, and quality standards. Without it, you can expect delays, errors, and a disconnect between your business goals and the services provided. Keep communication flowing smoothly, track progress, and address issues via dedicated channels (like Slack or Teams), a shared project management tool, weekly status meetings, or a mix of these.

Strategic planning

Next, involve language and localization experts in your strategic planning. When your LSP is part of the bigger picture, they can not only help make strategic decisions but also align their services more closely with your business goals. For example, if your company is exploring a new market, engaging your LSP early in the project allows them to contribute to the planning process, such as helping to decide which languages to choose and which content pieces to localize.

Early collaboration

Last but not least, consider engaging the LSP in the development phase of your products or services. This early involvement can be invaluable, offering insights that could shape the development process and make localization much more straightforward. During a process called internationalization, you make your products more adaptable to different languages and cultures from the start, saving you time and resources down the road.

4. Provide clear and complete instructions

You will need to provide complete instructions in the form of a localization kit, often called a “loc kit.” This comprehensive package of resources and information guides your LSP through the project’s specific requirements. A well-prepared loc kit can make the difference between a seamless localization process and one fraught with misunderstandings, delays, and inconsistent outcomes.

A localization kit typically contains:

• The assets that need to be localized: documents, software code, website content, marketing materials, and multimedia files
• The scope of the localization initiative: a list of all the tasks to be completed and detailed instructions on how to handle different aspects of the content, such as formatting, length restrictions, and other requirements
• Creative briefs: purpose, target audience, tone, and voice for each piece of content that requires translation (especially relevant for marketing materials)
• Style guide: rules for grammar, punctuation, use of acronyms, formatting, and overall language style
• Glossaries: key terms and phrases and their preferred translations, with additional explanations
• Reference materials: previously localized content, examples of successful translation initiatives, and any other materials that provide context and guidance for the current assignment

The more information you provide, the better. Yes, they do take some time to put together, but eliminating guesswork is in everyone’s best interests.

5. Increase efficiency with technology and tools

There’s plenty of technology in the localization field, and it can be overwhelming. For instance, translation memories store previously translated content, allowing for the reuse of exact phrases, saving time and cost, and ensuring consistency across translations. Termbases provide standardized terminology for industry-specific terms. Translation management systems (TMS) streamline workflows by automating processes, tracking progress, and facilitating stakeholder communication.

Also, integrating machine translation and AI into the localization workflow can improve productivity. While machine translation should never fully replace human translators, it can quickly handle large volumes of content, providing a solid foundation that human translators can refine and perfect. This hybrid approach will significantly speed up the translation process without compromising quality, so you can meet tight deadlines and expand into new markets more efficiently. Also, MT allows businesses to translate content that previously may have been out of budget.

Custom technology implementations and systems that scale with your business growth help you not only keep up with today’s demands but also prepare your workflows for the future.

6. Monitor translation quality and performance

Once your objectives are clear, identify measurable metrics that align with them. Common KPIs in language services include translation quality, turnaround time, customer satisfaction, consistency, and cost efficiency.

Many translation management systems (TMS) and project management platforms offer built-in features for monitoring these KPIs. For example, translation quality can be tracked through quality assurance reviews, while turnaround time measures the speed of delivery relative to deadlines.

Providing constructive feedback and encouraging two-way dialogue with your LSP can also lead to valuable insights and improvements in the process.

Lastly, regular performance reviews, such as Quarterly Business Reviews (QBRs), play a key role in maintaining your project’s effectiveness and identifying areas for improvement. These collaborative meetings allow you to review KPI performance, discuss strategic alignment, and plan for continuous improvement. They also keep both parties focused on long-term goals and reinforce the partnership by recognizing achievements and collaboratively addressing challenges.

7. Explore value-added services

It’s common for businesses to concentrate solely on core translation and localization services, overlooking the broader range of language services provided by an LSP that can really add value to your globalization efforts.

Exploring services beyond translation can significantly strengthen your brand’s global presence, customer engagement, and growth. For example, when you add market research (and act on those findings), you can be more certain that your product and content will meet the needs of your target audience. When you add testing, you can be confident that your software will not alienate or frustrate multilingual users due to functional or linguistic problems.

Here’s a list of potential services that can help enhance your localization efforts:

• Market research - analyzing target markets to document your go-to-market strategy
• Cultural consulting - providing cultural insights for better market adaptation
• Transcreation - adapting (not just translating) your branded marketing content for new markets
• Multilingual SEO - optimizing translated online content for search
• Desktop publishing (DTP) - formatting documents once translated to copy the original layout
• Internationalization consulting - preparing products for easier localization
• Software localization - adapting software UI and UX to different languages and dialects
• Multimedia localization - making multimedia content easily accessible to multilingual audiences
• Localization testing - evaluating the accuracy and functionality of localized products in real-life scenarios
• Terminology management - maintaining language consistency across multiple localized versions of your product
• eLearning localization - adapting online training and educational content to meet the expectations of multilingual learners
• Voiceover and subtitling services - adding translated voice or text to video content
• Linguistic validation or language quality assurance - confirming clarity of translations

What’s next?

As you start with localization, implementing these 7 tips will get you off on the right foot. And if you’re already working with an LSP, you can take this moment to reassess your current relationship.

Are you receiving the collaboration and strategic support necessary to meet your global goals? If not, it’s worth considering the above-mentioned tips to strengthen your partnership and maximize its value. If your current LSP falls short of your expectations or doesn’t provide the level of collaboration you require, it may be time to explore other options.

Our team of experts is here to help you successfully achieve your global expansion goals.

Contact us for a consultation on getting started with localization or optimizing your language strategies.