After a year of unprecedented global disruption, 2021 promises to be an exciting year with the world economy set to return to growth. One industry that undoubtedly has a positive outlook for 2021 is the railroad and transportation industry. Numerous tenders are currently open and the volume of these is expected to increase, with many large infrastructure projects in the pipeline right across Europe.
But with country-specific tenders usually in the local language, choosing the right translation partner has never been more important than it is right now in our ever more competitive world. Put simply: choosing the right company to translate tender documentation for you will likely make or break your tender success.
If the call for tender is in a local language, you will need to quickly and efficiently understand whether this tender is for you. Once you have ascertained that you will participate, you will need a reliable and expert partner to translate the tender submission into the required language.
With this in mind, what are the important considerations when deciding upon the translation agency for your needs? And how can you use this experience to help keep your railroad business on the rails in the future?
What are the important considerations when choosing translation services?
There are many important factors you should consider when choosing a translation agency that fulfills all of your needs and requirements for tender documentation. While at first glance it might seem like an unimportant and straightforward process to find a translation company to work with, there is much much more to translation work than simply translating from the source language to the local language.
From localised terminology to security issues and hitting deadlines on time to getting the legal language completely spot-on, investing in the services of a highly experienced, professional, and well-resourced translation company is vital. Before you decide on which translation agency to partner with for your tender translation, you should consider whether they are able to tick all of the following boxes:
Legality and deadlines
There’s no escaping the fact that missed deadlines mean game over and it is absolutely essential that procurement document translations are submitted ahead of any deadlines. The documentation you submit needs to be precise. Getting the legality correct and on time requires a translation team who can guarantee you highly accurate and precise translations - without any risk of cutting corners - to the deadline you demand. Furthermore, it is worth remembering that you will need Non-Disclosure Agreements (NDAs) for highly sensitive projects.
Security
Many businesses rely on translation partners for international tenders. And, naturally, some documentation contains highly sensitive information that must remain completely secure. A security breach can have devastating consequences for the reputation of a business. It is a prerequisite therefore that you choose a translation service provider that you can trust. This trust means complete confidentiality and bullet-proof security in all communications between your railroad business and your translation partner.
Experience counts
For something as important to your business as an international tender, it is absolutely crucial that you choose a translation partner with industry expertise. It cannot be overemphasised that there is much more to top professional translators than them simply working with source and target languages. The best translators out there are well-versed with industry-specific vocabulary, meaning a highly-skilled translator with railroad industry-specific experience is invariably going to produce higher quality and more accurate tender documentation translation.
Setting the right tone
On the same subject, terminology sets the tone and voice of your content. And as well as getting the industry-specific language right it is also vital that your tender submission text is appropriate for a particular culture or geographical location. The same word can carry very different meanings from one country to another, particularly as cultures and language are constantly evolving. In some instances, for example, one word in the same language - let’s say in the English language - can be interpreted very differently in one part of the English-speaking world to another. Furthermore, as languages evolve, new words come in to use or become redundant with every month and year that passes. Expert linguists know where and when to use and not use specific words. It is clearly very important that before you kick off your localisation project for tender documentation you get an expert terminology review for both the localised industry and that specific country.
Keeping your business on the rails in the future
While choosing the right translation agency can help you win tenders, this beautiful new relationship shouldn’t end there. Recognise that in an increasingly globalised world, communicating in the appropriate language can help make or break your business as we move forward into the 2020s. This means you should give serious consideration to implementing a translation process in your organization’s general workflow.
Keep your business on the rails in the future by partnering with Tilde’s professional translators.
With more than 15 years of experience, you no longer need to worry about translation accuracy, security, legal accuracy, local cultural nuances, and tight deadlines and can be confident of success in international project tenders.
Guna Grāmatniece
Client Relationship Manager Connect via Linkedin or reach out via translations@tilde.com