Why do you hire a language service provider for localization, when you can hire freelancers and have complete control over your operations?
Language service providers are in high demand these days, but are they really worth the hype? What can they possibly do that a professional freelance linguist doesn’t?
If you are also confused between hiring a language service provider or a freelance translator, this read is for you. In this article, I’ll point out some important factors that make LSPs a better option for your brand localization strategy.
Reasons Why You Should Partner with A Professional LSP?
Good freelancers are hard to find
Every time you want to perform a translation task, you must find a new freelance translator who’s available to work. Still, you don’t know if s/he is a reliable resource to put your trust in. The process of finding a professional freelancer can be as long as hiring a new employee for your company.
It is not just about finding freelancers, you also have to make sure that he is experienced in your brand niche, and have expertise in your target language pairs. Even when you find your perfect match, you are not always available. So, you have to wait until they are busy with other clients’ projects.
One freelancer has expertise in one language pair
If you are targeting various regions globally, you have to deal with multiple language pairs. Of course, one freelancer is not sufficient to meet your diversified translation needs. You will be hiring a separate freelancer for each language pair which not just makes it hard to manage the translation project but also increases the chances of translation inconsistency. Although LSP works with multiple translations still the chances of inconsistencies are low because of the collaboration between translations working under the same roof. So, you don’t have to deal with different freelance resources, communicating your requirements with one LSP partner will be enough.
Building trustworthy relations
When you are partnering with external resources on a long-term basis, having a good relationship and establishing trust is important. It’s hard to develop trust with freelancers because trust takes time and you rarely have long-term commitments with any freelancer. On the flip side, companies mostly have long-term localization project commitments with LSP. It gives them opportunities to work with one partner for a long period of time. During your partnership, you can truly understand the work ethic and sense of commitment of an LSP. It makes it quite easy for you to trust them for your future project if things turn out well in the first place.
Advanced localization tools
Professional language service providers work with advanced localization tools and linguistic software to manage heavy workloads from different clients. If you are working with a top LSP, they will have the best technology, tools, resources, and professionals in place to manage your localization project. So, when you are working with LSPs, you get the chance to work with the best tools and resources which may never be possible otherwise. On the other hand, you’ve to provide freelancers with all these tools if necessary because they are not always well-equipped. If you are managing a large-scope localization project, partnering with a professional LSP really makes your life easy.
Availability in different time zones
If you are working on continuous localization models, you will have to constantly work on tight deadlines. Would your freelance translators manage to be available 24/7? It is not humanly possible, that’s why you need to shake hands with a reliable language service agency to keep the translation flow running and avoid any delays. LSPs have expert translators working in different time zones. So, if one resource is unavailable, they will surely have someone to compensate.
Easy scalability to manage the increased workload
As a global business, you can expect to thrive in foreign markets and enter new regions whenever there is a good opportunity. For this, you need to work on flexible localization models with high flexibility and great scalability. You can expect the localization project management platform used by your LSP to be highly scalable because they have to work with multiple high-end clients. As the workload increases, you can easily upgrade your service requirements as per the growing needs. In the case of freelance translators, they will feel frustrated as your localization needs change, and you may need to hire more and more translators to meet the business localization requirements.
Wrapping Up!
If you are a global business with a growth mindset, it is always a good idea to invest in reliable and professional language service providers. They will not just relieve your translation workload but also provide you good quality content in the quickest turnaround time. Moreover, they’re less likely to spam you or mess up with your content because their market reputation is at stake.
