What is a translation agency? What services do they offer? What professional roles are there? In this article we will try to answer all the most frequently asked questions about what goes on behind the scenes of a translation agency.
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What is a translation agency?
For most people who are taking their first steps into the translation industry – whether they be clients, students or simply curious – a translation agency can appear as a mysterious or even frightening entity. The very term ‘agency’ often carries negative connotations – associated with the idea of a fraudulent middleman with the sole purpose of making money at the expense of the parties involved.
Yet in reality, a translation agency is merely an agency that provides language services to other companies or direct clients, who rely on its professional skills to manage a translation project through all its stages from preparation, to processing, and final delivery.
A translation agency plays a major role for any company, institution or private client who wants to compete in an increasingly globalized market, fostering multilingual communication development for their products or services.
Services on offer at a translation agency
The services offered by atranslation agency are many and vary according to the agency’s specialism: from the classic translation of any kind of text (technical-scientific, tourism, business, marketing, for publishing, etc.) to certified legal translations (so-called sworn translations); from subtitling, to software, mobile apps, website or video game localization; from copywriting to SEO adaptation,to editing and transcreation,up to and including interpreting,to revision, post-editing, voiceover, audiodescription, and dialogue adaptation for dubbing.
You name it!
The professional roles that make up a translation agency
It is often thought that only translators work in a translation agency. But truth be told, there are several industry professionals who work behind the scenes at a translation agency who are capable of meeting each client’s needs, from handling their requests to the final delivery of each project.
The key roles that must be fulfilled within a translation agency are:
1) Project managers
They take care of the relationship with customers and manage their every need. They plan projects from the linguistic, organizational and human resources perspectives. They prepare the files, set up the terminology resources and follow the required guidelines. They guide the linguistic team and supervise them, checking each step is carried out carefully, to the proper standard and in accordance with the client’s needs. They definitely need to be patient and masterfully skilled in translation management software (the infamous TMS!)
2) Translators
They must bequalified and competent with the language, culture and sector of specialization. They master at least two foreign languages and translate into their native language. They have excellent written skills, are extremely organized, and ready to meet tight deadlines. They are intimately familiar with all CAT tools, the Computer-Assisted Translation tools that facilitate workflow. Each translation agency works with various translators – both in-house and freelance – to offer translation services across a wide range of sectors and language combinations.
3) Reviewers
These are usually translators who providechecking and quality assurance services. They are in charge of the final phase of the project, thoroughly proofreading the translated text to optimize terminology use, style and syntax. They also correct any remaining errors or inaccuracies, using computer spell-checking and quality assurance tools to ensure the product is flawless and ready for delivery. Any reviewer worth their salt has surgical precision, a careful attention to detail and a keen eye for spelling and punctuation.
Depending on the size of the agency, the services available and the amount of work they handle, there can be many other key professionals within a translation agency. Here is a quick summary:
- Vendor manager: manages communication between the translation agency and freelancers, handling the selection and evaluation of professionals and negotiating contract terms.
- Localization specialist: translates and adapts software on a linguistic, cultural, and user experience level for the desired local market.
- Copywriter: responsible for editing texts (including on the web) for advertising and business purposes, creating persuasive content to transform readers into potential clients.
- Interpreter: this language and cultural expert mediates spoken communication between two or more speakers who are talking in different languages, for example during conferences, fairs or events.
- DTP specialist: deals with digital typography – everything that revolves around texts for print layout, graphically adapting translated texts.
We have taken you behind the scenes of a translation agency in this article to help you discover the various features, services and professionals who bring their expertise to this line of work.
Now it’s your turn, have you ever requested a language service? Did you know there were so many professionals in this sector? Do you know of any other roles within a translation agency? We would love to hear what you think.
Rachael is a young but talented colleague, who specializes in translations from French and English into Italian. After graduating in the UK, she moved to Italy where she taught English as a foreign language to Italian students and where she learnt the real Italian she needs to fully understand the source texts and translate them into English. She has also worked as an intern at AlfaBeta's office in Rome and is now one of our youngest freelancers.